BREAKING: White House Endorses Respect for Marriage Act

On the eve of a landmark hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the discriminatory so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the White House on Tuesday afternoon formally endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA in its entirety. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president “is proud to support the act, which would take the Defense of Marriage Act off the books for once and for all."

The Respect for Marriage Act (S.598/H.R.1116) currently pending in the House and Senate, would repeal DOMA in its entirety, as well as provide all married couples certainty that regardless of where they travel or move in the country, they will not be treated as strangers under federal law.

The Judiciary Committee hearing — entitled “Assessing the Impact of DOMA on American Families” — will take place at 10 a.m. on Wednesday July 20. If you’re able, please be sure to tune in as it is shaping up to be a blockbuster event in Washington.

In the meantime, I hope you will continue to stand with the ACLU in urging your members of Congress to support the Respect for Marriage Act. It’s time to put DOMA — an ugly relic of a bigoted and discriminatory past — where it belongs, in the dumpster.

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