HRC’s Joe Solmonese Sends A Letter To President Obama

HRC’s Joe Solmonese Sends A Letter To President Obama. HRC just released a letter they sent to President Obama. Here are a few highlights:

“…we clearly have not been heard, and seen, as what we also are: human beings whose lives, loves, and families are equal to yours.”

“Knowing us for who we are—people and families whose needs and contributions are no different from anyone else’s—destroys the arguments set forth in the government’s brief…”

“Reading the brief, one is told again and again that same-sex couples are so unlike different-sex couples that unequal treatment makes sense.  But the government doesn’t say what makes us different, or unequal, only that our marriages are “new.”  The fact that same-sex couples were denied equal rights until recently does not justify denying them now.”

“DOMA is not “neutral” to a federal employee serving in your administration who is denied equal compensation because she cannot cover her same-sex spouse in her health plan.  When a woman must choose between her job and caring for her spouse because they are not covered by the FMLA, DOMA is not “neutral.”  DOMA is not a “neutral” policy to the thousands of bi-national same-sex couples who have to choose between family and country because they are considered strangers under our immigration laws.  It is not a “neutral” policy toward the minor child of a same-sex couple, who is denied thousands of dollars of surviving mother’s or father’s benefits because his parents are not “spouses” under Social Security law.”

“These arguments completely disregard the fact that LGBT citizens pay taxes ourselves.”

“I cannot overstate the pain that we feel as human beings and as families when we read an argument, presented in federal court, implying that our own marriages have no more constitutional standing than incestuous ones…”

“We call on you to put your principles into action and send legislation repealing DOMA to Congress.”

Well, I will say one thing for sure. The DOJ’s brief on Friday certainly did a lot of things to our community, including this: It allowed the White House to scale the gay rights argument back to just DOMA. Are we going to let them do that?