Is it truly possible that in 2011 there could be 19 Democrats in the House who voted for DOMA and against equality? DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act that bans federal recognition of legal same-sex marriages, was signed into law in 1996. But Thursday, the very day the Senate announced it was scheduling a hearing to repeal DOMA, in an out-of-touch, bigoted, and irresponsible vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill reaffirming the law — a law the Attorney General, the President, and a federal court judge have all declared unconstitutional. Sure, it’s something you might expect the Republican members of the House to vote in lock-step for, but 19 Democrats? Yes, 19 Democrats voted to reaffirm DOMA.
READ: DADT: GOP’s Virginia Foxx Tries To Use DOMA to Stifle DADT Repeal
First, some background. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the woman who lied, who claimed Matthew Shepard’s hate crime murder was an accident that happened in the commission of a robbery, along with Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), introduced the Foxx-​Burton amendment, as a thinly-veiled attempt to use DOMA to stall DADT repeal. The bill demands that “No funds under the act may be used for activities in contravention of Public Law 104 – 199, the Defense of Marriage Act.†In other words, Reps. Foxx and Burton are attempting to ensure that the U.S. does not contribute to or fund any same-​sex weddings on military bases or installations.
The Foxx-Burton amendment passed by a margin of 248-175.
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Surprisingly, six Republicans voted on the right side of history, and against the Foxx-Burton amendment: Reps. Biggert, Bono Mack, Diaz-Balart, Hanna, Hayworth, and Ros-Lehtinen.
So, here are the anti-gay voting Democrats who decided voting to reaffirm DOMA was the way to go: Reps. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), John Barrow (D-Ga.), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Dan Boren (D-Okla.), Ben Chandler (D-Ky.), Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), Mark Critz (D-Pa.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Gene Green (D-Texas), Tim Holden (D-Pa.), Larry Kissell (D-N.C.), Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), James Matheson (D-Utah), Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Nich Rahall (D-W.V.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.).
Are any of these Democrats your Representative? Why don’t you let them know how you feel? (202) 224-3121. And if you’d like to buy them a black hat like the one above, they deserve it. Why not take the $25 you were going to donate to them and let them be the bad guy with the big black hat?