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发帖数: 4174 | 1 Posted on Advocate.com September 23, 2011 05:20:00 AM ET
DOMA Repeal Gets Its First Republican Cosponsor
By Andrew Harmon
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) A bill to repeal the federal Defense of
Marriage Act now has bipartisan support after Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of
Florida announced Friday that she would cosponsor the legislation, becoming
the first Republican to do so.
“I voted against the constitutional amendment defining marriage [in 2006]
so I’m pleased to cosponsor the repeal of DOMA and work with my colleagues
on marriage equality,” said Ros-Lehtinen, who represents Florida’s 18th
district, which includes South Beach, most sections of Miami, and the
Florida Keys.
Though the south Florida representative has a long history of voting in
favor of LGBT rights, her decision to join 124 House Democrats in
cosponsoring the Respect for Marriage Act nevertheless is a bold move, given
the Republican House leadership’s defense of DOMA in multiple legal
challenges after the Obama administration announced in February it would no
longer defend the law.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, original sponsor of the House DOMA repeal
bill, called Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, “a
tremendous ally in the world’s struggles for freedom and against oppression
and discrimination.”
“She is widely recognized as a champion of human rights and human dignity,
” Nadler said. “And her support reminds us that the march to repeal the
discriminatory DOMA is not a partisan issue. … [T]he drive to end DOMA is
— and must be — a collective, nonpartisan effort that unites Americans
behind a simple push for equality.”
Ros-Lehtinen’s announcement comes just days after the historic end to “don
’t ask, don’t tell” — which she also voted to repeal.
In Tuesday evening prepared remarks at the Log Cabin Republicans’ Spirit of
Lincoln Awards reception in Washington, D.C. where she was warmly received,
the congresswoman perhaps hinted at her eventual support to repeal the 1996
anti-marriage equality law. “As Republicans, we are committed to ensure
that the federal government play its proper role. Defining marriage is not
part of that role,” she said. (Update: Ros-Lehtinen did not deliver the
prepared remarks but did release them following the event.)
Log Cabin executive director R. Clarke Cooper said in a Friday statement
that Ros-Lehtinen is “a reliable ally and leader time and again on
legislation to secure freedom and fairness for all Americans. Log Cabin
Republicans are grateful that she has once again stepped forward as an
inclusive leader by cosponsoring the Respect for Marriage Act.”
The congresswoman’s co-sponsorship also follows recent lobbying efforts by
representatives from LGBT advocacy groups including Cooper and Freedom to
Marry federal director Jo Deutsch, both of whom met with the congresswoman’
s office in July to discuss DOMA repeal.
"[Ros-Lehtinen's] support for this important bill confirms that equal
respect for all marriages is a bipartisan, mainstream value,” Freedom to
Marry founder and president Evan Wolfson said.
As a member of the House LGBT Equality Caucus, where she serves as a vice-
chair, Ros-Lehtinen is no stranger to stepping ahead of her party on gay and
lesbian issues. In May, she became the first Republican to cosponsor a bill
that would bar discrimination against same-sex couples seeking to become
adoptive or foster parents. Ros-Lehtinen has supported federal protections
against anti-LGBT employment discrimination as well as a bill to provide tax
equity to gay couples for employer-sponsored health care.
In 2008, Ros-Lehtinen also was a vocal opponent of Florida's Amendment 2, a
voter-approved constitutional amendment that eventually banned marriage
rights as well as civil unions or domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.
“I would say her move is courageous, if not necessarily risky, as she has
supported LGBT rights in the past without much consequence,” said one
political observer of Ros-Lehtinen’s DOMA repeal support.
But as Freedom to Marry national campaign director Marc Solomon noted of her
decision, “It’s always hardest to be the first. And I do think that after
today’s announcement, other [Republicans] will follow.”
Last week, a North Carolina Democrat, Rep. Brad Miller, signed onto Nadler’
s bill following his state legislature’s approval of an anti-marriage
equality amendment to be decided by voters in May. Rep. Adam Smith of
Washington, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, also
announced that he would cosponsor the legislation last week.
Though the bill is not expected to move in the current Congress — and DOMA'
s constitutionality could well be resolved by the courts before any
legislative action takes place, “It’s very compelling that [after DADT],
we’ve now moved onto this last major vestige of federal discrimination”
against LGBT Americans, Solomon said.
The Senate version of the Respect for Marriage Act, introduced in March by
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, currently has 29 Democratic
cosponsors.
President Obama in July expressed his support for the bill: "The President
has long called for a legislative repeal of the so-called Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA), which continues to have a real impact on the lives of
real people -- our families, friends and neighbors," White House officials
said in a July statement.
After the jump, read complete statements from Rep. Nadler, Log Cabin,
Freedom to Marry and Ros-Lehtinen's statement to Log Cabin. | g********d
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