The Defense of Marriage Act Was the Worst Vote of His Political Career

by Michael Jones · 2009-09-16 05:47:00 UTC
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Rep. Earl BlumenauerYesterday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced the Respect for Marriage Act -- with the support of 90 members of Congress -- to effectively repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and send the message that the federal government shouldn't be in the business of defining marriage. Finally, for the first time since DOMA passed in 1996, efforts have begun in Congress to repeal it.

While Rep. Nadler is one of the leaders of the DOMA repeal efforts, there are two voices bringing a whole bunch of gravitas to the argument over eliminating DOMA. Voices like Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), pictured above, who voted for DOMA back in the day. His take on DOMA now?

It was the worst vote of his entire political career.

We'll second that, and say that it was probably the worst vote for all 342 U.S. house members who voted for the act, as well as the 85 U.S. Senators who signed onto it.

"[My] vote fed the bigotry," Rep. Blumenauer writes. "Once Congress had put its imprimatur on DOMA, it was a logical step for the homophobes and political cynics to intensify their efforts and make permanent a ban on gay marriage in both the U.S. and state constitutions -- spawning many state initiatives and intensifying the assault."

DOMA was bad law in 1996, and it's bad law in 2009. Even former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA into law, and former Congressman Bob Barr, who authored the text of DOMA, have called for its repeal.

You can, too, by clicking here and sending a message to your Congress members to support the Respect for Marriage Act. Repealing DOMA is certainly going to take more than 90 U.S. House members. So the work on this begins, but it's work that's well worth the undertaking.

Oh, and if you want to thank Rep. Blumenauer for admitting his mistake in voting for DOMA thirteen years ago, feel free to send him a message on Twitter - @RepBlumenauer. Might we suggest, "@RepBlumenauer thanks for switching your position on the Defense of Marriage Act and working to end discrimination."

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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