Congress Makes A Move

It is not an uncommon occurrance for me to identify something that I see as a socio-political problem and make a Grand Pronouncement about the Right Way to fix it. For example: I think that it's way past time that the U.S. started recognizing gay marriage. I've often stated that lots of states need to get on board with this program, because only an overwhelming show of support at the state level will convince the federal government to get rid of that pesky Defense of Marriage Act that prohibits the federal government from recognizing these marriages that are increasingly becoming either legal or recognized by the several states.

I do try to keep things realistic and, you know, not expect Congress to come up with a bill to repeal the DoMA, or call it something like the Respect for Marriage Act. Given the anti-gay-marriage sentiment in so many states in the union, I figure, such a bill would get laughed out of the House and Senate, and the fight for gay marriage would be set back and yadda yadda yadda. I try not to hope that such a sensible thing would just suddenly pop up on my radar.

I love when I'm wrong.

It's not a perfect bill; if you click a few links and look at the text, it wouldn't immediately make gay marriage the law of the entire land. What it would do is entitle the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in those states and foreign countries that allow them. My college friend and her wife in Massachusetts, for instance, could get federal marriage benefits as well as state benefits, but their marriage would still probably not be recognized in Arkansas. However, the bill also recognizes foreign gay marriage, so that, say, a married Canadian couple could move to Massachusetts and still have their marriage be recognized.

The other thing I like about this bill is that it smooths a little more of the path for the Uniting American Families Act, which is a bill that would try to take care of Americans who go abroad to marry same-sex partners who are not U.S. citizens, but who then must leave the country and become permanent expatriates because the foreign marriage isn't enough to sponsor the spouse for immigration. From my interpretation of the text of this bill, it would allow these couples to move to states where gay marriage is recognized. For the record, this would be: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and (for the moment) Maine. Possibly also New York, which does not allow gay marriage itself, but recognizes gay marriages performed out-of-state.

I find it fascinating that the legislators sponsoring this bill are from Minnesota, a state which does not currently allow gay marriage. I've never been to Minnesota, but perhaps this should change at some point in the future.


A BILL

To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State regulation of marriage.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Respect for Marriage Act of 2009'.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF SECTION ADDED TO TITLE 28, UNITED STATES CODE, BY SECTION 2 OF THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT.

Section 1738C of title 28, United States Code, is repealed, and the table of sections at the beginning of chapter 115 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to that section.

SEC. 3. MARRIAGE RECOGNITION.

Section 7 of title 1, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

`Sec. 7. Marriage

`(a) For the purposes of any Federal law in which marital status is a factor, an individual shall be considered married if that individual's marriage is valid in the State where the marriage was entered into or, in the case of a marriage entered into outside any State, if the marriage is valid in the place where entered into and the marriage could have been entered into in a State.

`(b) In this section, the term `State' means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States.'.