I’ve Changed My Mind About the Marriage Amendment

When it comes to the Constitution I am a strict constructionist. I’m an ardent supporter of states rights. Because of these things I’ve been opposed to a marriage amendment to the Constitution. I believed that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was sufficient to leave the question in the hands of the states. I have wanted Congress to remove DOMA from the purview of the courts so that it can’t be struck down but what I haven’t considered to this point is the possibility of DOMA being repealed.

In an interview with The Advocate, a gay magazine, Barack Obama said, among other things, that one of his goals is to repeal DOMA. That’s not a new position for Obama but his interview bring it to light again. The simple fact is, liberals will not stop until gay marriage is the law of the land. This is, among other things, what Obama had to say:

I have actually been much more vocal on gay issues to general audiences than any other presidential candidate probably in history… I reasonably can see ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ eliminated. I think that I can help usher through an Employment Non-Discrimination Act and sign it into law… The third thing I believe I can get done is in dealing with federal employees, making sure that their benefits, that their ability to transfer health or pension benefits the same way that opposite-sex couples do, is something that I’m interested in making happen… And finally, an area that I’m very interested in is making sure that federal benefits are available to same-sex couples who have a civil union… I, for a very long time, have been interested in a repeal of DOMA.

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