Going to the Chapel: Active-Duty Wedding, and “DOMA-Plus” Amendments
Recently, I attended my first same-sex wedding ceremony at a courthouse in DC, witnessing the legal marriage of an active-duty service member and her new wife. Currently based in another part of the country, this young couple came to DC to put the official seal on their relationship in the presence of friends and DADT repeal supporters.
Just last week, we saw the stubborn DADT repeal opposition rear its head once again. Last Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee passed two amendments to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that target the marriages of LGB service members. First, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) offered an amendment unnecessarily restating DOMA for the military. Then, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) introduced an amendment to prohibit the use of military installations for same-sex marriage ceremonies and to ban chaplains and DoD military and civilian employees from participating in such ceremonies. Essentially, Akin’s amendment expands DOMA: it's "DOMA-plus," infringing upon the religious freedom of service members, chaplains, and DoD civilian employees.
These amendments don’t just represent the abstract policy principles of a bigoted political agenda; they strike directly at the heart of the union I witnessed at the DC courthouse. To attack the marriages of these loving couples – these military families who serve their country each day – is to disrespect their sacrifice and to undermine the basic tenets of equality and fairness that all our troops fight for.
The motive behind these representatives’ amendments is clear. As the country watches the military march smartly toward certification and open service in the coming months, the opposition seeks its next opportunity to target LGB service members and has found it in the form of DOMA. We can’t let this faction make up new “facts.” We must strike back at the lies being spread: that chaplains would be forced to perform same-sex marriages upon repeal, and that DOMA prevents any same-sex marriages from being performed on federal property. (After all, the ceremony I witnessed took place in a federal courthouse!)
This wedding demonstrated the determination and drive of a loving military couple to make their union official. Despite the risks of DADT, despite the distance to DC, and despite ongoing hurtful rhetoric from hate-mongers, this service member and her new wife have shown that they will not give up. Neither will SLDN will give up on equality for LGBT service members, and we invite you to join us in standing up for military couples like this.
05-19-11 By Elizabeth Shirey, SLDN Grassroots/Policy Advocate |
3 Comments
Comments for this entry are closed.Levis on May 19, 2011 at 11.49 pm
to put it simple i aint care about doma or same sex marriage once the law get repeal and i get back i will be way to busy to think on marriage and stuff, maybe for the retirement party i might consider that silliness, once im old and useless
Michael@LeonardMatlovich.com on May 19, 2011 at 03.45 pm
As if SLDN’s limp-wristed reaction to the slow walk of repeal weren’t enough, this constant, disingenuos Lavender Alert about these amendments is both sad and shameless. You irresponsibly do not make clear that they have NOT become a part of 2012 DEFAUTH and have virtually no chance of becoming same as that requires passage in the Democratic-Senate and signing by the President.
It’s one thing to only preach to the choir—and another to preach to the choir with alarmist nonsense. Out of the blogs and into the streets—or at least to a press conference in which SLDN calls out the President for having created this months-long, ongoing vacuum before lifting the ban that Repug demagogues are exploiting. Only then will I believe that SLDN has not given “up on equality for LGBT service members.”
Xavier Davis in Houston,Texas on May 19, 2011 at 02.23 pm
Congrats to the newly-weds