The Obama administration is thinking about urging the Supreme Court to overturn the ban on gay marriage in California, according to The Associated Press. There is a one-week time frame for the administration to file a friend-of-the-court brief with the justices. The brief will outline its opinion of Proposition 8, the California ban.
Donald Verrilli, Solicitor General, is working with the White House on the issue. The filing would be performed by the Justice Department, but Obama would have the final say whether or not it should be done.
“I have to make sure that I’m not interjecting myself too much into this process, particularly when we’re not a party to the case,” Obama said Wednesday in an interview with San Francisco’s KGO-TV.
Obama noted that his view is gay couples should have the same rights as straight couples. He also noted that his administration is going to do all in its power to promote that idea.
During his inauguration on January 21, Obama made the following remarks about gay marriage, “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. For if we are truly created equal, than surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”
The Obama Administration no longer defends the law known as the Defense of Marriage Act, but continues to enforce it.
This announcement pleases me. As a straight, married man (and lawyer), I have always believed that people with alternative lifestyles should not suffer discrimination in life or at law. The arguments against the gay/lesbian/etc., community are spurious, to be generous. Popular Sovereignty is an arcane concept that was discredited by the Union decisions to prosecute the civil war. No State or Federal government should be allowed to abridge the rights of ANY defined minority as some have tried so hard to do when it comes to the gay/lesbian community. That abridgment is no different than the denial of human and civil rights to blacks and other racial minorities.
It is time for Americans (the majority of whom support gay/lesbian rights) to make it clear to their various legislatures to knock off the silliness and support civil and human rights for ALL people.