An attorney for a homosexual couple now plans to use comments made by President Obama on the Defense of Marriage Act last week in federal court this August to argue for the federal government’s recognition of gay marriage, The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday.
The Justice Department invoked DOMA earlier this month in a motion to dismiss the marriage case filed in federal court. The DOJ said the case should be handled by a state court because it involves a gay couple married in California. The federal 1996 Defense of Marriage Act leaves the decision of recognizing gay marriage up to the states.
The DOJ’s motion made many gay rights groups livid. The DOJ Civil Division will meet with some of these organizations today, Politico reported yesterday.
But now The Chronicle said attorney Richard Gilbert plans to argue that gay marriage is a federal issue because of comments President Obama made on DOMA last Wednesday when he announced that homosexual partners of federal employees would receive some government benefits. “It’s discriminatory, it interferes with states’ rights, and it’s time we overturned it,” Obama said.
“It appears to me that the president of the United States is making it clear that the attorneys for the United States do not represent the views of the administration,” Gilbert told the Chronicle. “I think they have a duty to withdraw their motion. I think they have a duty to join my side of the case.”
