Allison Herwitt, HRC's legislative director, told the Blade on Friday that her organization has been communicating with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) to introduce DOMA repeal legislation that would complement a similar bill expected in the House.
Feingold is an interesting choice since Wisconsin will have a limited domestic partnership law in place by October, but his constituents won't be able to benefit from the DOMA Repeal as it will only recognize marriage, but not civil union/domestic partnership. So I don't know how enthusiatic he'd be in pushing a DOMA repeal. Granted, it may allow people living in states where gay marriage is not legal to get married in states where it is and enjoy federal benefits. According to this article:
Herwitt noted that Nadler said a "certainty provision" in the bill would allow gay couples living in a state where marriage is not recognized to go to another state to marry and qualify for federal benefits when they return home.
"You could, if you lived in Oklahoma, travel to Massachusetts, or one of the other [five] states get married and [go] back to Oklahoma," she said. "The state would not have to recognize your marriage, but federal benefits would flow."
But the article also confirms my worse fears, that DOMA Repeal is not possible in this congress.
Despite these developments, Herwitt said she didn't think DOMA repeal would happen during this congressional session.
Now, if it doesn't pass in this session (2009), I don't see how it can get picked up by the next session, where midterm election will be on everyone's mind and controversial topics are avoided at all costs.
But we should take comfort in the fact that progress is happening, albeit at a much lower pace than we'd like. That's the political reality.
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