The Justice Department will meet next week with gay rights groups who are angry about the DOJ’s decision to uphold the federal Defense of Marriage Act which leaves the decision to recognize gay marriage up to the states, The Plum Line reported this afternoon.
We previously reported that the DOJ invoked DOMA in a motion filed last week in California to dismiss the first gay 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 Plume Line’s Greg Sargent said the meeting to discuss DOMA concerns will likely include major gay rights organizations GLAD and Lambda Legal. But the meeting might not do too much for the groups, he said.
“It remains to be seen, however, whether the meeting will achieve in a long term sense what gay rights lawyers told me they were and are looking for — an ongoing, less-confrontational interaction with the administration in the context of specific cases,” Sargent wrote. “It’s also an open question whether the meeting will resolve broader tensions in what has been an unexpectedly rocky relationship.”
The meeting is the latest effort by the Obama administration to mend bridges after infuriating the gay community last week. Earlier this week, the Justice Department told GLAD that gay couples could now use their married names in their passports, The Associated Press reported today.
