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Written by WiG
Feb 4, 2012
Evan Wolfson, founder of the Freedom to Marry
A coalition of civil rights, labor, progressive, faith, student, health, legal, women’s and LGBT organizations this week called for passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.
The bill would repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act signed into law in 1996, when Bill Clinton was president and Newt Gingrich was speaker of the House. Bob Barr of Georgia introduced DOMA, but the former congressman has since said he no longer supports its provisions.
DOMA withholds federal protections for legally gay and lesbian couples.
In the House, the bill has 136 co-sponsors. The co-sponsors in the Senate, where the judiciary committee has approved the bill, number 32.
Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said, “The federal government should not be in the business of picking which marriages it likes and which it does not, but that is exactly what DOMA does. The breadth and depth of this coalition shines a bright light on the heart wrenching discrimination against loving, committed families caused by DOMA.”
The coalition announced this week includes: Alliance for Justice, American Civil Liberties Union, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Democratic Action, Anti-Defamation League, Association of Flight Attendants, Center for American Progress, Coalition of Labor Union Women, COLAGE, Courage Campaign, Communications Workers of America, Family Equality Council, Feminist Majority, Freedom to Marry, GLAD, Gay & Lesbian Medical Association, Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Human Rights Campaign, Immigration Equality, Interfaith Alliance, International Union, UAW, Lambda Legal, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Log Cabin Republicans, MALDEF, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Council of Jewish Women, National Education Association, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Organization for Women, National Partnership for Women and Families, National Women’s Law Center, People for the American Way, PFLAG, Pride at Work, AFL-CIO, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), Service Employees International Union, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Stonewall Democrats, Third Way, Unitarian Universalist Association, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and USAction.
“This broad and diverse coalition has come forward to urge members of Congress to end the unfairness,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry. “In America, we don’t have second-class citizens, and shouldn’t have second-class marriages, either.”
In January, Wolfson’s group announced the formation of a group of U.S. mayors to campaign for marriage equality.
