Obama supports overturning DOMA - It's about time

I'm sure everyone has heard the big news of the day:

A day before the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to hold hearing on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, the Obama administration has endorsed Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) legislation to repeal it. Responding to a question from Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner, White House Press Briefing, Jay Carney said Obama was “proud to support the Respect for Marriage Act” to “take DOMA off the books once and for all.” “This legislation would uphold the principle that the federal government should not deny gay and lesbian couples the same rights and legal protections as straight couples,” he added.

Obama has long favored repealing the 1996 measure and has instructed the Department of Justice not to defend Section 3 of the law, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. But in backing Feinstein’s measure, Obama is also signaling his opposition to Section 2 of the statute, which stipulates that same-sex marriages — unlike heterosexual marriages — shall not be automatically recognized across state lines unless the state has legalized marriage equality or allowed for the recognition of out-of-state marriages between same-sex couples.

Feinstein’s bill currently has 27 Democratic co-sponsors. It would extend over 1,000 federal laws and protections to same-sex couples, including: the right to file joint federal income taxes and claim certain deductions, receive spousal benefits under Social Security, take unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act when a loved one falls seriously ill, and obtain the protections of the estate tax when one spouse passes and wants to leave his or her possessions to another.

Unfortunately the odds of the bill passing don't look so good. But still, it's nice to see the President make a move forward. Now keep it up, Obama.

Anti-gay leader likes a good 'fag' joke and other Tuesday midday news briefs

FAMiLY LEADER’s Bob Vander Plaats Erupts In Laughter At Faggot Joke: ‘That’s Pretty Good’ - More proof that the "super duper we break for Jesus" crowd is comprised of hypocrites.

70 Percent of Anti-LGBT Murder Victims Are People of Color - This is scary. Period.

Hypocritical. Just an example. - The hypocrisy of NOM's supporters defined.

BREAKING: Senate confirms first out gay male to federal bench - Just in case you haven't about this very good news.

Perry Won't Take Responsibility For Radical Attendees At His Prayer Event - Can you blame him? Assorted nuts belong in a can and not on their knees at a huge prayer event.

What NOM really thinks about the black community

One thing I found interesting about the controversy regarding Michele Bachmann and that ridiculous Family Leader pledge (the one which said African-American families fared better under slavery rather than now) is not who weighed in with their opinion, but whose words were conspicuously absent.

The National Organization for Marriage gave no criticism about the pledge. On the contrary, the organization actually praised not only the Family Leader, but also Bachmann for signing the pledge.

In this blog entry, NOM actually brags about being partners with the Family Leader in one of its endeavors (Presidential Lecture Series).

In another one, NOM praises Bachmann for being the first person to sign the now infamous pledge.

In this linked blog entry, NOM claims that Bachmann's signature of the pledge has put her in a first place lead in the Iowa primary.

Lastly, in this entry, NOM mentions that the other Republican candidates - Romney, et. al. - has refused to sign the pledge.

Now what's missing here?

Any criticisms or mention at all about the controversy regarding how the pledge seemingly embraced slavery.  And that's a pretty conspicuous omission seeing how NOM brags about how it has teamed up with the black church on more than one occasion to stop marriage equality.

NOM seems to be a master at exploiting the race card when it can be used against the gay community. In both Maryland and New York, the group allied itself with members of the black community under the pretense that it is trying to preserve the integrity of the African-American struggle for equality  from "homosexual interlopers" out to "exploit that legacy for their own hedonistic purposes."

How ironic is it that the organization sneaks out of the room when it is shown that one of its own is exploiting that legacy.

Of course it's not an irony for those of us who haven't bought NOM's lies about being the black community's best friend.

But it's still something to bring up and repeat. NOM doesn't care about the black community. It never has and it never will.

Now what it can get from the black community is another matter.

Related posts:

Reminder - Marriage equality also affects the black community

From one black man to the black community - stop the homophobic madness!