The Department of Justice has released a statement today saying Barack Obama told them they should no longer defend the defenseless Defense of Marriage Act in court because it discriminates against gay spouses and is therefore unconstitutional. Well yeah, duh, instituting discrimination is the whole point of that legislation, but it’s nice to see Obama starting to return his own previous position on the issue now that he feels it’s safe. Change takes time to set in, we guess. The statement was sent in a letter to John Boehner, a sort of head’s up to Republicans that they now live in a LAND OF SIN and there’s nothing they can do about it. Equality: sometimes it happens!
Much of the legal landscape has changed in the 15 years since Congress passed DOMA. The Supreme Court has ruled that laws criminalizing homosexual conduct are unconstitutional. Congress has repealed the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Several lower courts have ruled DOMA itself to be unconstitutional. Section 3 of DOMA will continue to remain in effect unless Congress repeals it or there is a final judicial finding that strikes it down, and the President has informed me that the Executive Branch will continue to enforce the law. But while both the wisdom and the legality of Section 3 of DOMA will continue to be the subject of both extensive litigation and public debate, this Administration will no longer assert its constitutionality in court.
Not quite the same as a stirring MLK speech, but it’ll do.
And thus ends another chapter in Obama cautiously giving a small bit of ground to civil rights for gay people that he secretly believes in. What will he do tomorrow, shake the hands of a gay couple? He is an amazing reformer. [DOJ via Truth Wins Out]







{ 136 comments }
As Joe Biden may have already said: "This a BIG fucking deal."
No butts about it, DOMA is screwed.
Reverse the emphasis.
Or not. 'Cause now that the gays can marry, they'll turn into sexless drones just like their breeder colleagues.
" The statement was sent in a letter to John Boehner"
Time for Boehner to come out of the closet.
Dressed like Carmen Miranda, singing "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina"?
No, really that's OK, JB can remain closeted. We'll just steal your younger hotter children to make us drinks and maintain our ranks.
Out of the tanning bed.
I take it you mean it's time for him to come out of his wine cellar. Good luck.
Yeah, what the DOJ and Obama said was interesting and all…but I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for Bryan Fischer's take on the issue.
pops some popcorn and waits for the fireworks show
And they pretend there's not an overweening heterosexual agenda…
Scoot over…. I'm right there with ya.
Given Obama's support for Prop 8, & him going back on it, I assume Fisch will say the Prez is an Indian-Giver.
So endth the Cock (not Koch) blocking.
Ah, maybe eventually it will be politically safe to let those bush-era tax cuts actually expire, but I doubt it.
Natch, this announcement has more to do with the bush area than the Bush era.
Sounds like someone received an invitation to a wedding in Iowa this past weekend.
Even if Obamar doesn't personally agree with this, it's fucking refreshing to see a politician who responds to the ACTUAL will of "the people".
God, I feel gross and slightly uneducated even using a phrase like that, thanks teatards…
But is the world ready for Lindsey Lieberman?
Worse for South Carolina: marrying a man, or marrying a Jew?
Yes.
I say HAM BISCUITS to the world! Miss Lindsay's been hiding his trousseau in that old family chest for too long!
"hiding his trousseau" = power bottoming
"that old family chest" = his pool boy Lars
/clarified, for y'all's convenience and edification.
Lars is LInday's Charleston pool boy. In DC it's Luther.
But in DC he doesn't even have a p- oh, I see.
Great. First he goes muslin, now he goes gay. Why didn't we listen to Glenn Beck before it was too late?
Rick Santorum has a sad, which makes all decent people glad.
Whaddya mean? Now Rick can marry his poodle!
SO… THAT'S why his daughter is cryin' non-stop…
"Mom, Pa's poundin' the poo-dle again."
The image of a "Santorum Pounded Poodle" will never get old.
Eyes squeaned shut, lips pouting, clutching a rag doll dressed in a matching gingham suit.
And there was much frothy santorum throughout the land!
And there was much frothy santorum throughout the land!
And Phyllis Schlflay has a stroke, which gladdens all the decent folk.
He also strongly condemned Apartheid.
He's cool with it on the West Bank, though. Bi-partisanship!
"…now that he feels its safe"
Careful though, if he sees his shadow he'll scurry back into his hole and it will be another 10 years of DOMA
The statement was sent in a letter to John Boehner, a sort of head’s up to Republicans that they now live in a LAND OF SIN and there’s nothing they can do about it.
Come on in, the water's fine!
USA,USA!
But it ain't sin if the Repugs do it.
Hey Barry, stuff like this might be more impressive if you didn't wait until everybody is saying "It's about fucking time" before you finally do something.
Maybe in four years he'll figure out that blowing up wedding parties in Afghanistan isn't actually worth all the billions we spend doing it.
~
Now I understand why my marriage is suddenly falling to bits all around me. Barry O and the Gayz did it.
FABULOUS!!!!!!
as you took the word right out of my mouth, i wish i could upfist you more…
Politico is reporting that the media suspected this was coming when the White House began piping Judy Garland into the press room.
Ham Biscuits meet Whisker Biscuits. Just steer clear of Boehner's Limp Biscuit.
And Sarah Palin is going to say somthing offensive and stupid about this in 5,4,3,2,…
And then we can ask her how her
bastardillegitimate grandchild is.Or how her "friend" Lou Sarah is.
OT, but…….. .http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110223/ts_yblog_theticket/palin-dismisses-lou-sarah-facebook-account
Jesus, the stoopid on that site is mind-blowing. And for once, I'm not talking about the comments.
Congratulations Wonkette! Nice to see you get credit. The "ignore that man behind the curtain" tone from Palin is great too, also.
I have a face book psudo (baconzgood). Here are some samples:
Your penis is bigger than a python and I won't be able to walk straight because my knees are still trembling due to all of the Orgasims.
You are the most smartest person in the world. That insight left me flabbergasted.
Can I name my child after you? I'll pay you for the privilege. See I want my spawn to get all the opportunities that a person as cool as you gets.
The Supreme Court has ruled that laws criminalizing homosexual conduct are unconstitutional
Something tells me, with this current crop of FundieCatholic Fucks (Elena "Softball" Kagan exempt) , that money and/or Polaroids where involved…
Anthony Kennedy going to Europe all the damn time to lecture on his summers off, you know he was hitting Love Parade at least a coupla times.
It was back when you had a guy who the GOP considered a closted case (Souter), Breyer, Ginsburg and JP Stevens on the left, plus Kennedy. Kennedy, it should be noted , started his legal career in the demon city of SAN FRANCISCO in the late 60s/early 70s, and by his own admission hung out in the Tenderloin (at the Hastings Law library, but still). So I'm guessing there's some amazing 8 mm film somehwere of him in a Pan costume just cold destroying men and women in a sexual frenzy.
About damn time.
The ballsier move would have been to have the letter read at the beginning of the CPAC convention.
Sadly, No. The ballsier moves would be happening in the restroom at CPAC.
Freedom is hard, it means people getting married even when you don't like the people. Now there will be gay Mexicans getting married in my front yard and if they bring Cerveza and cake I am okay with that.
Heh heh. You said "hard."
Stay thirsty, my gay, Mexican friends.
The ironic thing is that gay marriage is actually legal in Mexico City, DF.
In celebration, I just bought everyone here an upfist.
and one for you to.
And you get an upfist and you get and upfist and you get an upfist and you…
I read your handle as "widestanceromance", which seemed apropos for the topic.
HA! It was precisely that here at Wonkette until IntenseDebate's name field objected to the number of characters, and I just deleted until it shut up.
Someday, I'd like to be widestanceitalic, though.
Goddamn circle jerk all up in here.
Republican response: You ruined marriage. Now none of us can have straight sex. Dammit. Where's the men's room?
I'll inform my partner (opposite sexed one) that we'll have to get divorced now that he's destroyed the institution of marriage.
Though this is happy news; please don't let this be the capitulator in chief throwing the fucking retarded base a bone before he caves and the EPA and Planned Parenthood are defended. Set, grow a pair.
Hey, at least he's capitulating to the right people now — it's a momentum shift that bodes well for PP and CPB and all those other commies out there.
Obama's afraid of teh geyz rising up, encouraged by the freedom movements in the Middle East, and calling for a Homosexual Caliphate!
And we pot smokers demand recognition before we call for a national smoke-in and crowd all the fast food outlets, bringing our economy to a halt.
I bet a homersexual califate involves bending over five times daily.
I call this position "New China"
No no. It's the "Naughty Anderson."
Will Backdoor Man become the new National Anthem?
Does this mean it's time for Newt to get married again?
At the very lease, divorced. His marriage will crumble in the face of this amoral onslaught.
I'm guessing Sasha or Malia are making noises about "questioning" and FLOTUS has put the screws to POTUS.
You mean to say she not only applied The Persuaders, but The Enforcer as well?
You know Barry, if you would have exhibited this level of backbone back in 2009, maybe you wouldn't have had your ass handed to you in 2010.
word.
If I were a man, I'd gay marry that handsome negro. In honor of this blessed occassion, I will engage in buttsecks, also. Get ready to clean up some Santorum, illegal housekeeper.
Heathens 1 – Focus on the Family 0
You are a shining example to us all.
Hey now, you seem to forget that "Focus on the Family"'s co-founder Mr. Dobson has a solution to all of this gay fever. It involves taking your child into the shower with you and showing off your enlarged penis, but really, it's the Christian thing to do.
Just in time for Tom Delays sexy prison sentence.
That didn't take long:
"Frankly I was surprised that President Obama pretended to be a defender of natural marriage as long as he did,"
Bryan Fucking Fischer. Then he added something about Michelle Obama being fat.
He should choke on his own bile and die in great pain.
He should
choke on his own bileget smothered between the folds of Rush Limbaugh's panniculus and die in great pain.There. That's better.
As someone who's been married for 17+ years, let me say there hasn't been anything that has felt all that "natural" about it. Hell, the running joke in our family for years, any time you are asked to do something ridiculously contorted and/or uncomfortable (such as surviving extended contact with inlaws with a smile on your face) was "act natural!" because that's what the wedding photographer kept saying after placing us in poses only Chinese acrobats can hold for more than 3 seconds.
Ah, for the days when the likes of Bryan Fucking Fisher would have been lion food for public amusement.
What is "natural marriage?"
Hey! My P-ness just reached 100! Thanks everybody! And don't feed the trolls!
Congratulations, and as DokZoom said, welcome to the Meaningless Threshold-Crossers' Club™. But I'll upfist you anyway, especially in light of the topic of this post.
Fuck, now we gotta make it to 200!!
Yes, you reach one milestone and they raise the bar to the next one – fuckers.
Here's an upfist to celebrate the occasion. Sorry, they were out of giftwrap.
A fist up to you for freedom!
Your P-ness has been getting pounded… but good!
Horray! And well deserved, too.
Great! I'm going to spend the rest of the day writing "Mrs. Anderson Cooper" on my trapper-keeper.
People of the same sex who are committed to each will be allowed to marry and make their relationship official. So the family law firms are adding lawyers, paralegals and support staff since the opposite marriage divorce rate will spike like a motherfucker.
I see what you did there…
I never saw how the gays were attacking my marriage anyway
They attack straight marriage because they don't often the side effects of children and consequent lack of sex. For just about ever.
Being married is a bigger threat to my marriage than Teh Gheyz.
With fancy decorating and extremely competitive softball games.
Today, we are all cheerful, happy, gay people.
"Equality: sometimes it happens!"
Despite our best efforts.
This is good news for John McCain
How will this effect the Walker/Koch marriage?
They'll have two names on the governor's baseball bat.
Stupendo.
I hope the Sanatorum comes off the bat with some Pine Sol.
Like a third leg.
Crack out the cha-cha pumps and Revlon 'scara, gurls.
We headin' out tonight!
This is totally Barry's style too. He doesn't go all "Surprise Buttsecks" on us, he warms us up, touches us in naughty places, scatters some rose petals, and then starts the real deal. This statement is a few drops of lube lovingly caressed into our bulbous posterior.
I only wish I could give you more than one upfist for the use of the word "bulbous".
I think many of us would have preferred for Obama to demand the butter and just do it.
Barack-America!
So now that Obama has, as the right-wing will claim, single-handedly destroyed the institution of marriage and made teh gay secks mandatory for all U.S. citizens…I call dibs on Mila Kunis.
Me for, oh, I dunno . . . Robert Downey Jr? Or maybe the actor who played Principal Wood in season 7 of Buffy?
Hey, look who discovered the Constitution. Does it say anything about war crimes in there? How about the section on when international treaties expire due to quaintness?
Ah! The fierce urgency of "Yeah, k, whenever".
Phyllis Schlafly and Anita Bryant just soiled their Depends.
"The statement was sent in a letter to John Boehner…"
And then Joe Biden sent a Post It saying "Suck on that, BONER!"
Way to go, Mr. President — just don't wait up for a thank-you note from Mary Cheney or anything.
Wait, was he for it before he was against it before he was for it? I've lost track.
If decent Americans were more willing to give up things like 'union negotiations' and 'living wages' to Republicans this kind of filth wouldn't be happening. On a totally unrelated note: Crisco Disco at my place!
Speak for yourself, Barry can take me slow anyday.
So I have this unique investment opportunity. It involves a methodology by which we promise to enhance one's P-ness, via some sort of token, like a pill or something. The pill doesn't even matter, but buying the advertising to get the eyeballs of people that believe they need more P-ness is key. This is where your investment comes in. We'll buy ad space on a whole bunch of websites and cable channels to advertise a pill to enhance your P-ness, because obviously if you are visiting these websites/channels, you need some P-ness enhancement. Because there is shame in admitting that you need P-ness enhancement, almost everyone who is a customer will shy away from making public a claim about their failed attempts to enlarge their P-ness using our product. It's a win-win!
It's past time to make ALL marriages illegal. As institutions go, it is a complete failure. Except, of course, for wonderful Republicans like Pugsly Limbaugh.
Anyone called dibs on Pink yet? Sweeeet…DIBS! Also, sorry bout your marriages being meaningless and all that.
Is there any other kind?
"Awww…you got your gays in my marriage! No, you got your marriage in my gays!"
And, this, my friends, is how we got gay marriage.
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