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What really prompted a prominent law firm to give up its defense of DOMA, and lose a
key lawyer in the process? The date's been set for a showdown over the secret Prop 8
trial tapes, and over Judge Walker's personal life. Rhode Island legislators give up on
marriage in favor of civil unions, and New York keeps ratcheting up the pressure with
a massive lobbying effort slated for next week.
I'm Matt Baume, and welcome to Marriage News Watch for May 2, 2011.
Marriage News Watch is made possible by Marriage Equality USA, Carbonated, a creative agency,
and viewers like you.
There was a surprise twist to the Defense of Marriage Act this week. The law firm King
& Spalding had initially signed on to defend the anti-gay law, but then abruptly ended
their representation on Monday. Paul Clement, the lawyer in the case, responded by resigning
from King & Spalding so that he could continue DOMA's defense with another firm.
So, why did King & Spalding drop the case? They said that it just wasn't vetted properly,
but there's a lot of speculation that they were heavily pressured by clients and colleagues
to get out of the business of hurting gay families.
Now, a few people -- including Attorney General Eric Holder -- have come to Paul Clement's
defense, saying that our legal system has a duty to secure representation for even the
most unpopular clients, because defending unpopular clients is necessary for protecting
larger fundamental freedoms.
For example, if we want to protect the freedom of expression, that includes defending racist
or violent speech, because there's a larger freedom at stake.
But that's not really the case here. What's the larger freedom at stake with DOMA? There
isn't one. DOMA limits freedoms. Standing up for a cause can be noble. But not if your
cause is denying health care, deporting husbands and wives, and forcing widows out of their
homes.
There's simply no justification for Paul Clement's continued defense of this harmful law, which
has even been renounced by the people who wrote it.
The good news is that more Senators have signed on to DOMA's repeal, and we now have the 10
votes needed to pass it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The next step is to pressure Patrick Leahy, the committee chair, to hold hearings on the
Respect for Marriage Act. So Vermonters, you know what to do: go to leahy.senate.gov and
tell him it's time to hold hearings on the Respect for Marriage Act.
In the mean time, we can all mark our calendars for June 13. That's going to be a big day
in the Prop 8 case, as we'll be hearing arguments on two separate controversial issues.
The first is whether the public should be allowed to see videotapes of the Prop 8 trial
from last year. The answer, obviously, is yes, because we do not live in a country that
makes a habit of holding secret trials. But the anti-marriage folks don't want anyone
to see how badly they lost, so they're making the public jump through all these hoops in
order to see our own justice system at work.
The second question is even more unbelievable. They're saying that Judge Walker's ruling
on marriage should be thrown out because he might want to get married someday. Not that
he said he would get married, not that he tried once before, just might. Hypothetically.
Maybe. Or not. Who knows?
If that sounds crazy to you, you're not alone. Just about every legal analyst in the country
is shocked that they're trying to make an issue out of Judge Walker's marital plans.
It just doesn't make sense -- not even to their own people. Here's what Maggie Gallagher
had to say a few months ago about whether it was relevant that Judge Walker was rumored
to have a partner.
MAGGIE GALLAGHER: First of all, it's relevant. It could be relevant. It's not irrelevant.
If he had upheld Prop 8, I think it would be even more relevant. I don't believe that
it's totally irrelevant. I'm not sure it is relevant, in the sense that I do know a small
number of people who supported Prop 8 who were gay. So it's not necessarily relevant.
Maybe they'll get their story straight by June.
There was a big disappointment in Rhode Island this week, with House Speaker Gordon Fox deciding
that they didn't have enough votes to pass a marriage law this year. As a result, they'll
be introducing a civil unions bill on Tuesday of this week.
It's a big letdown, especially since polls in Rhode Island showed that voters supported
the marriage bill and nobody's satisfied with the civil unions compromise. Civil rights
groups say that it doesn't go far enough, while the Catholic Diocese said this week
that it doesn't want gay families to have any protections.
Things are even worse in Minnesota, where lawmakers are moving towards implementing
a second marriage on top of an already existing prohibition. The proposed constitutional amendment
passed the Senate Judiciary 8 to 4 on party lines, and is expected to pass the House and
Senate later this year, which would put it before voters in 2012.
There's a bit more cause for optimism in New York, where marriage currently has 26 of the
32 votes needed to pass the Senate. Several lawmakers have yet to take a stand, including
Democrats Joe Addabbo and Shirley Huntley of Queens, and Republicans James Alesi of
Fairport, Greg Ball of Brewster, and Joseph Griffo of Utica. Empire State Pride Agenda
will hold a lobbying day for marriage in Albany on May 9, but a week later NOM and its allies
will hold an anti-marriage rally on May 15.
Meanwhile, Equality Ohio founder Lynne Bowman will serve as interim Executive Director of
Equality Maryland while that organization searches for a permanent leader. Morgan Meneses-Sheets
was abruptly fired last week after a disappointing legislative session. Her replacement will
be expected to revive attempts to pass marriage and anti-discrimination laws in 2012.
And Poland announced this week that the country would soon allow its citizens living abroad
to get married, although Poland itself still wouldn't recognize those marriages.
Those are the headlines. Visit MarriageNewsWatch.com for more on all of these stories, and head
over to Facebook.com/MarriageNewsWatch and click "Like" to get news alerts and headlines
right on your wall. Click over here to subscribe to weekly updates, or over to the right to
watch some of our previous episodes, such as our interview with Josh Vandiver about
how DOMA could separate him from his husband, and our interview with Friendfactor's Brian
Elliot about moving New York legislators closer to marriage.
We'll see you next week.
Marriage News Watch is made possible by Marriage Equality USA, Carbonated, a creative agency,
and viewers like you.