Klobuchar to vote for DOMA repeal
Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 11:12 am
- 19 Comments
Sen. Amy Klobuchar will support a bill that would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) when it comes up for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on which Klobuchar serves, state Sen. Scott Dibble has indicated. DOMA currently prevents same-sex couples legally married in five states, Washington, D.C., and one tribal nation from receiving the federal benefits of marriage. President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder decided in February to halt defense of DOMA citing its probable unconstitutionality.
Last week, the Courage Campaign noted that Klobuchar was one of two Democratic senators who hadn’t signed on to the DOMA repeal bill (the other is Wisconsin’s Herb Kohl) and that her office stated that she had not taken a position on the bill. That prompted OutFront Minnesota, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy group, to initiate a campaign urging constituents to call on her to support the repeal.
On Tuesday, state Sen. Dibble of Minneapolis noted that he spoke with Klobuchar’s staff, who indicated she would vote for the measure.
“I have spoken directly with Amy Klobuchar’s State Director,” Dibble wrote on Facebook. “Senator Klobuchar will be voting for the repeal of DOMA in the Senate Judiciary Committee.”
Klobuchar’s press office has not responded to the Minnesota Independent’s request for confirmation.
DOMA was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. It bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage which, at the time, no states had legalized. Today, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, the District of Columbia and the Coquille Tribal Council in Oregon perform same-sex marriages, and thousands of Californians are also legally married following several months in 2008 prior to the passage of Prop 8 when same-sex marriage was legal.
Follow Andy Birkey on Twitter19 Comments
Comment posted March 24, 2011 @ 1:19 pm
Thank you, Amy!
As Carl says…
Oh, you do it Carl!
Comment posted March 24, 2011 @ 2:22 pm
Go ahead C&V. I don’t Jebus, Jebus owns me (and vast expanse of tax-exempt property, organizations and wealth).
Praise Jebus, God hates government sanctioned monogamy, Amen.
Comment posted March 25, 2011 @ 7:14 am
Sen Klobuchar’s lack of leadership and silence on all GLBT issues to be treated equally by our federal and state governments is alarming. She has to be lobbied to do the right thing again and again.
Comment posted March 25, 2011 @ 9:30 am
“She has to be lobbied to do the right thing again and again”
Totally agree . She has been a major disappointment.
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Comment posted March 25, 2011 @ 9:41 am
Carl – good form. And yes – Jebus hates editing. He loves you just the way you are with all your faults. I look forward to your Jebus spin with my morning coffee.
Sounds like Klobuchar is a bit reluctant? I hope not. This has reminded me to start encouraging her to tap into the progressive Minnesotan deep inside her.
Comment posted March 25, 2011 @ 9:49 am
Better late than never but her reticence/indifference is cause for concern.
Comment posted March 25, 2011 @ 10:58 am
I’m afraid Amy has no idea what she is supporting. A vote against traditional marriage is a vote against society, children and everyone else’s marriage. What a tragidy.
Comment posted March 25, 2011 @ 12:08 pm
Jaha. I continue to remain ambivalent about Senator Amy, and this is no laughing matter.
Pingback posted March 25, 2011 @ 7:09 pm
[...] the Minnesota Independent is reporting that Sen. Klobuchar has said that she would vote for repeal which means the bill is just one vote shy of passing out of [...]
Comment posted March 25, 2011 @ 7:34 pm
I love how conservatives can never spell….
Tim: It’s not “tragidy” its tragedy…
You are a freaking idiot…if you don’t like gay marriage don’t marry a man and while you are at it do not reproduce. Lord knows you won’t be any help with your potential children and their homework.
Comment posted March 25, 2011 @ 10:12 pm
Tim’s warped idea of “society” is incompatible with living in a free society and deserves nothing less than a sledgehammer.
I have said before how Sen. Kloubuchar likes to wait to see where the fence is, then sit on it until the last minute, unless it’s something like “save the puppies” or something really urgent like that.
Comment posted April 18, 2011 @ 1:38 pm
She has been incredibly slow to act when it comes to supporting GLBT issues. In fact I was among a small group of constituents that tried to meet with her COUNTLESS times last year to discuss our issue as same sex binational couples and it turned out it was more important for her to be at the State Fair on the day we were supposed to meet her. We were handed off to one of her staffers who made it clear he didn’t really care about the fact that same sex couples have zero immigration rights compared w/ straight couples. Disappointing. We need her to support the Uniting American Families Act which, if passed, would solve all of our problems. Us and the 36,000 other couples affected by immigration discrimination.
Pingback posted April 26, 2011 @ 6:09 pm
[...] in committee, although she’s stopped short of co-sponsoring the legislation. Last month, the Minnesota Independent reported that the senator would back the Respect for Marriage [...]
Pingback posted April 27, 2011 @ 10:58 am
[...] DOMA in committee, although she’s stopped short of co-sponsoring the legislation. Last month, the Minnesota Independent reported that the senator would back the Respect for Marriage [...]
Pingback posted April 30, 2011 @ 11:59 am
[...] DOMA in committee, although she’s stopped short of co-sponsoring the legislation. Last month, the Minnesota Independent reported that the senator would back the Respect for Marriage [...]
Pingback posted June 8, 2011 @ 12:05 pm
[...] Klobuchar (D-MN) [Source: The Minnesota Independent and The Washington Blade] tweetmeme_url = [...]
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