Ex-President Bill Clinton wants the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an anti-gay law, the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that he signed as president 17 years ago.
?On March 27, DOMA will come before the Supreme Court and the justices must decide whether it is consistent with the principles of a nation that honors freedom, equality and justice above all, and is therefore constitutional,? Clinton wrote Thursday in a Washington Post op-ed piece.
Ex-President Bill Clinton wants the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, which he signed into law 17 years ago.
?As the President who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and, in fact, incompatible with our Constitution.?
Clinton joins the Obama administration, more than 100 corporations and a bevy of former Republican governors in calling for the high court to overturn the law.? U.S. district courts, and two federal appeals courts, have ruled that provisions of the act are discriminatory.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., voted for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 but is now co-sponsor of legislation, the Respect for Marriage Act, that would repeal it.
Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.? As a result, same-sex couples who are legally married in the District of Columbia and nine states ? including Washington ? cannot receive benefits of more than 1,000 federal statutes, programs and tax provisions available to other couples.? As Clinton writes:
?Among other things, these couples cannot file their taxes jointly, take unpaid leave to care for a sick or injured spouse or receive equal family health and pension benefits as federal civilian employees.? Yet they pay taxes, contribute to their communities and, like all couples, aspire to live in committed, loving relationships, recognized and respected by our laws.?
Clinton notes that the United States is still a ?young country,? and that recognition and rights have expanded in time.
?We have yet to celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment, but a society that denied women the vote would seem to us now not unusual or old-fashioned, but alien,? he writes.? ?I believe that in 2013 DOMA and opposition to marriage equality are vestiges of just such an unfamiliar society.?
And, he adds:? ?We understand that, while our laws may at times lag behind our best natures, in the end they catch up to our core values.?
The change in public opinion toward same-sex marriage has come with great speed.
The Defense of Marriage Act was opposed by only 81 out of 536 members of Congress.? As recently as 2004, 11 states voted for laws defining marriage as between a man and a woman.? In November, Washington, Maine and Maryland voted for marriage equality.? Minnesota defeated a constitutional amendment, pushed by the Catholic hierarchy, that would have blocked marriage equality.
Clinton does quote a signing statement, in which he said that DOMA should never ?be understood to provide an excuse for discrimination.?? The 42nd president was the first occupant of the White House to have actively courted gay and lesbian support in campaigning for the office.
In a bit of a mea culpa, Clinton adds:? ?I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory.? It should be overturned.?
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