- A protester at Sunday’s National Equality March (Main Justice / Ryan J. Reilly).
Among the marchers at last Sunday’s National Equality March in Washington were members of DOJ Pride, an organization representing gay and lesbian employees of the Department of Justice.
Christopher Hook, DOJ Pride president, said in an interview there’s been ”a big leap forward” in addressing gay and lesbian issues at the Department of Justice in recent years.
“There has certainly been progress, and we’re working with the administration to codify a lot of that progress,” said Hook, who is with the department’s Justice Management Division. “We have an improved working relationship with this administration.”
Last year, then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey reversed a five-year ban on DOJ Pride’s use of department facilities and email. The ban had been instituted by John Ashcroft, a former Missouri senator and evangelical Christian who was President George W. Bush’s first AG.
Hook said he and several other DOJ employees took part in the march to celebrate progress on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues.
At the Justice Department, Jenny Durkan, an openly gay Seattle lawyer, was recently confirmed as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington. And Matt Nosanchuk, a former adviser to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), joined the civil division of DOJ as a liaison to the LGBT community. Attorney General Eric Holder has urged Congress to pass hate crimes legislation, and he’s spoken about the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots before DOJ Pride.
“Let’s be honest, too many of the same obstacles that existed then remain for us to overcome,” Holder told the group, according to the Washington Blade. “But neither the frustrations of the past, nor the challenges of the future should deter us from our goal — our responsibility — to continue our efforts to ensure the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans.”
But one high-profile court filing caused a rift in the relationship – a summer court filing defending the Defense of Marriage Act.
“The entire community was somewhat outraged by the justification in the briefing, which was very inflammatory,” said Hook. “Along with a lot of other people we contacted the administration to find out what was going on. They clearly realized what had gone wrong and refiled a brief which removed the language and said that the president opposed the law, even though the Justice Department had the obligation to defend it.”
That amended August court filing stated that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act discriminates against gays, but that the government will continue to uphold the law as long as it is on the books.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has been threading the political needle. His administration extended some benefits to the partners of federal employees, but not health insurance or pension benefits, for example.
“As always, it’s one step forward and one step back, but we’ll take each step forward,” said Tess Smith, who came in from Pittsburgh for the march, which began at McPherson Square, passed by the White House and continued past the Main Justice building on Pennsylvania Avenue before ending at the Capitol.
Mukasey’s 2008 order that DOJ Pride should have the same rights as other employee organizations came after discrimination questions flared in the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings scandal.
Margaret Chiara, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, claimed she was targeted for dismissal because of false rumors that she was having a homosexual relationship with a subordinate. Chiara told DOJ Inspector General investigators the rumors of her improper relationship with an Assistant U.S. Attorney were spread by two attorneys in her office who’d been detailed to jobs at Main Justice in Washington.
However, the IG concluded that Chiara was removed for poor management skills.
Main Justice caught up with several marchers outside of the Justice Department building last Sunday. Here’s what they had to say about the Obama administration:
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
The Justice Department said in a court filing submitted today that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act discriminates against gays but DOJ will continue to uphold the federal law that does not recognize gay marriage as long as it is on the books. Read the filing obtained by Politico here.
DOJ is seeking to have an anti-DOMA suit filed by a gay California couple thrown out. President Obama has been under attack by gay rights groups for DOJ’s defense of the federal law that does not recognize gay marriage.
Justice Department officials and Obama met in June with organizations that were angry about DOJ’s efforts to uphold DOMA, which leaves the decision to recognize gay marriage up to the states. He told gay rights advocates that he is committed to gay rights and supported repealing DOMA.
“This administration does not support DOMA as a matter of policy, believes that it is discriminatory, and supports its repeal,” DOJ Senior Trial Counsel Scott Simpson wrote in the filing today. ”Consistent with the rule of law, however, the Department of Justice has long followed the practice of defending federal statutes as long as reasonable arguments can be made in support of their constitutionality, even if the department disagrees with a particular statute as a policy matter, as it does here.”
He added in a footnote: “This longstanding and bipartisan tradition accords the respect appropriately due to a coequal branch of government and ensures that subsequent administrations will faithfully defend laws with which they may disagree on policy grounds.”
Posted in News | Comments Off
Massachusetts placed the Justice Department between a rock and a hard place yesterday by suing the U.S. government over the Defense of Marriage Act. Read The Associated Press report here.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed the lawsuit in Boston contesting the federal law that does not recognize gay marriage. The suit argues that the act “constitutes an overreaching and discriminatory federal law,” according to The AP. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Iowa have legalized gay marriage in their states.
The Justice Department defended the act last month, which infuriated gay rights groups. President Obama has tried to mend bridges with the gay community since then. He told gay rights advocates two weeks ago that he is committed to gay rights and supported repealing DOMA.
Posted in News | Comments Off
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.”
Posted in News | Comments Off
The mayors of San Francisco and Los Angeles criticized the Justice Department for its recent brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law that says the federal government doesn’t recognize gay marriage.
“I think it’s a big mistake,” San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom said, according to the LA Times. Newsom made is remarks as he and Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of LA, kicked off the annual LA Pride parade in West Hollywood.
Read our previous coverage of the uproar in the gay community over the Obama DOJ’s position here.
