Politics
House GOP drops DOMA defense
‘Windsor decision resolves issue of DOMA’s Section 3 constitutionality’
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner has dropped defense of DOMA in court. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key).
House Republicans and the U.S. Justice Department are switching roles in a case against the Defense of Marriage Act that continues because it also challenges a statute restricting veterans’ benefits for troops with same-sex spouses.
In a move widely praised by LGBT advocates on Thursday, House Republican lawyers who had previously defended DOMA — including Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general during the Bush administration — announced they would withdraw as a participant in the lawsuit in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision last month in the Windsor case striking down DOMA.
“The Windsor decision necessarily resolves the issue of DOMA’s Section 3 constitutionality in this case,” the filing states. “While the question of whether [Title 38] is constitutional remains open, the House has determined, in light of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Windsor, that it no longer will defend that statute. Accordingly, the House now seeks leave to withdraw as a party defendant.”
The lawsuit, known as McLaughlin v. Panetta, was filed on behalf of gay troops and veterans by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Chadbourne & Parke LLP in 2011 and challenges DOMA as well as Title 38, the law governing veterans’ benefits that also restricts the definition of spouse to opposite-sex couples.
LGBT advocates praised the move from House Republicans, who had taken up defense of DOMA after the Obama administration stopped defending it in 2011, as a decision placing them on the right side of history.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, called the move “historic,” noting that House Republicans spent an estimated $2.3 million in defense of DOMA.
“After millions of taxpayer dollars wasted defending discrimination, it’s a historic sign of the times that the House leadership is dropping its pointless quest to maintain second-class status for lesbian and gay couples,” Griffin said.
Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said Republican attorneys should follow suit in other lawsuits related to DOMA and file motions to exit as parties in those cases.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling is clear,” Hammill said “Rather than trying to delay justice for particular married gay and lesbian couples and their families, Speaker Boehner should immediately file motions to end House Republicans’ involvement in the remaining cases and stop spending taxpayer dollars to defend unconstitutional discrimination.”
In addition to the McLaughlin case, another DOMA lawsuit also challenging Title 38 was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center and is known as Cooper-Harris v. United States.
Caren Short, staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, called on Republican attorneys to withdraw from the Cooper-Harris case as well.
“We are considering our next steps and hope BLAG will withdraw from the Cooper-Harris case and finally end their shameful crusade against veterans and their spouses,” Short said.
Boehner’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment on whether House Republicans would similarly withdraw from other lawsuits related to DOMA.
But on the same day House Republicans made the filing to withdraw from the McLaughlin case, the Justice Department made its own filing disputing the plaintiffs’ ability to challenge Title 38 in the lawsuit.
First, the Justice Department contests that any of the plaintiffs have been harmed by the statute because it says none of them have applied for and been denied veterans benefits.
“These plaintiffs do not allege that they have applied for or been denied any veterans’ benefits (such as additional disability compensation based on a veteran’s service-connected disability, burial benefits, or dependency and indemnity compensation) that they would be eligible to receive but for their same-sex marriage,” the Justice Department states.
Second, the Obama administration maintains that the court in which the lawsuit was filed doesn’t have jurisdiction to decide veterans’ claims because the Veterans’ Judicial Review Act provides the exclusive review scheme for such challenges.
“Under this scheme, a veteran may seek administrative review of the denial of veterans’ benefits before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals and subsequent judicial review by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, with the right to appeal that court’s decision as to legal issues to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and ultimately to the Supreme Court,” the Justice Department said.
The Justice Department makes this filing — signed by gay Acting Assistant Attorney General Stuart Delery — even though the U.S. Attorney General announced in February 2012 that it won’t defend Title 38 in court as it pertains to married same-sex couples.
Although the Justice Department objects to the Title 38 challenge in the case on procedural grounds, the filing makes clear the administration still believes Title 38 is unconstitutional “against challenges under the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause.”
Christopher Man, a gay attorney handling the case with Chadbourne & Parke LLP, said he disagrees with the arguments presented by the Obama administration, but will work with the Justice Department going forward.
“We appreciate that DOJ has agreed with us that each of the statutory provisions we challenged is unconstitutional, and are working with DOJ lawyers to find a solution that will provide our plaintiffs with all the benefits they would have received if their application for benefits had not been unconstitutionally denied,” Man said.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns had asked both House Republicans and the Justice Department to file by Thursday on the impact of the Windsor case on the McLaughlin case.
Politics
First lady warns Trump is ‘dangerous to the LGBTQ community’ at HRC event
Jill Biden spoke in Arlington, Va., on Friday
Delivering a keynote address at the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality in Action event Friday, First lady Jill Biden warned former President Donald Trump is “a bully” who is “dangerous to the LGBTQ community.”
Her appearance at the three-day volunteer and board gathering at the Sheraton Pentagon City in Arlington, Va., comes as part of the Biden-Harris reelection campaign’s “Out for Biden” program, which aims to “mobilize LGBTQ+ voters, communities, and leaders across the country.”
“Today, this community is under attack,” Biden said. “Rights are being stripped away. freedoms are eroding. More and more state laws are being passed targeting this community. Just last month, we had to fend off more than 50 anti-gay amendments that Republicans tried to force into the government funding bill.”
“These were extreme measures aimed directly at this community — measures that would have limited health care and weakened protections for same sex couples,” she said. “And they served only one purpose to spread hate and fear.”
In a nod to her long career as an educator, Biden said, “History teaches us that our rights and freedoms don’t disappear overnight. They disappear slowly. Subtly. Silently.”
She continued, “A book ban. A court decision. A ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. One group of people loses their rights and then another. And another. Until one day you wake up and no longer live in a democracy … This is our chapter of history and it’s up to us how it ends.”
Biden then highlighted some of the advancements for LGBTQ rights secured under the Biden-Harris administration.
“Thanks to President Biden, marriage equality is now the law of the land,” she said. “He ended the ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood. He’s made it possible for trans Americans to serve openly and honorably in our military. And he’s standing firmly against conversion therapy.”
“Yes, there are forces outside these walls that are trying to erase these hard fought gains, trying to unwind all the progress that we’ve made,” Biden said. “They want to take our victories away, but we won’t let them. Your president will not let them — I will not let them.”
Politics
‘Out for Biden-Harris’ LGBTQ-targeted campaign is launched
Several events planned in coming weeks
The Biden-Harris campaign on Wednesday debuted “Out for Biden-Harris,” which is a “national organizing and engagement program to mobilize LGBTQ+ voters, communities, and leaders across the country.”
Out for Biden-Harris “will train supporters to organize within their own networks and leverage messengers from the community to ensure we are meeting LGBTQ+ voters where they are,” the campaign wrote in a press release announcement.
“From drag queens to elected leaders to LGBTQ+ faith leaders, Team Biden-Harris will use a wide range of validators to communicate what’s at stake for the LGBTQ+ community in this election and why it’s critical that we vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
The campaign also previewed some of the events and initiatives in coming weeks, which will include:
- A virtual organizing call featuring actor Wilson Cruz, Congressman Robert Garcia, HRC President Kelley Robinson, to mobilize LGBTQ+ supporters;
- A series of virtual relational organizing trainings focused on activating and reaching new volunteers targeting battleground voters. The campaign will be engaging trusted messengers, including high-profile and trusted messengers in the LGBTQ+ community, like Brita Filter, Danica Roem, Gina Ortiz Jones, and Rev.
- Hosting a series of Out For Biden-Harris house parties and community events including events in Phoenix, Arizona, Ferndale, Michigan, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Las Vegas, Nevada to mobilize supporters.
- First Lady Jill Biden will be a featured speaker at the Human Rights Campaign Equality In Action Conference bringing together a network of 400 organizers and activists in Arlington, VA.
The campaign noted that LGBTQ voters will be “a key part” of its coalition, while 39 percent of voters consider LGBTQ equality a “make-or-break issue.”
“In 2020, nearly 11,000 LGBTQ+ volunteers mobilized to help elect President Biden and Vice President Harris,” the campaign wrote. “This year, Out for Biden-Harris will re-engage these supporters and build on their work. The program is designed around the idea that there is no better messenger to mobilize LGBTQ+ voters than their friends and neighbors to bring new supporters into our campaign.”
The Biden-Harris administration is the most pro-LGBTQ in history, and LGBTQ groups with a combined 3.8 million members have endorsed President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
However, “the fight for equality for all Americans is at stake this November as Trump and his allies plan to roll back the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ Americans,” the Biden campaign wrote. “Trump and his MAGA allies are running on an extreme, anti-LGBTQ+ agenda which would push to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, even going after the right to marry who you love.”
“LGBTQ+ voters are a force to be reckoned with. They were critical to our victory in 2020, and they will be critical to winning again this November,” said Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. “That’s why we’re thrilled to launch Out for Biden-Harris, which will harness the LGBTQ+ community’s organizing prowess to reelect President Biden and Vice President Harris this November.”
Chavez Rodriguez continued, “LGBTQ+ Americans couldn’t have more at stake this election: Donald Trump and his extremist allies are running to gut LGBTQ+ rights and erase history as their top priorities. LGBTQ+ Americans deserve leaders who will fight for every American’s freedom and dignity. That’s what President Biden and Vice President Harris have done throughout their time in office, and what they will do if reelected, including pressing Congress to pass the Equality Act.”
“There has never been a more critical time to protect the rights of all Americans, no matter who you love or how you identify, and Out for Biden-Harris will be critical to not just safeguarding, but strengthening the rights and voice of every single American,” she said.
Politics
Melania Trump to host Log Cabin Republicans event
Former first lady is close with the group
Former first lady Melania Trump is back on the campaign trail with plans to host a fundraising event for the conservative LGBT group Log Cabin Republicans on April 20 at Mar-a-Lago, Politico reported on Thursday.
Funds will be used to support the group’s “Road to Victory” program, which will target voters in swing states. LCR has had a close relationship with Mrs. Trump, who was a special guest for its Spirit of Lincoln Gala in 2021, where she received the Spirit of Lincoln Award.
Politico reports that the host committee for this month’s event will include GOP donors Saul Fox, Amanda Schumacher, Bill White, Bryan Eure and Richard Grenell, who is gay and served as ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence during the Trump administration.
“Melania Trump’s work as first lady, from helping children reach their full potential to championing a more inclusive Republican Party, has been historic,” LCR President Charles Moran said in a 2021 press release concerning the Spirit of Lincoln event.
“Her vocal support of Log Cabin Republicans has been a signal to Republicans everywhere that it is possible to simultaneously be conservative and support equality under the law for all Americans,” he said.
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