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Obama's Camp Paints Hillary Gay 'Insult'
A top adviser to Sen. Barack Obama says Hillary Rodham Clinton's refusal to call for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act is a "symbolic insult" to gay Americans. "The federal statute books shouldn't be filled with symbolic insults to part of the population," Harvard law professor Lawrence Tribe told ABC News. "I guess Hillary Clinton may have a complicated set of agendas here because many people were troubled when her husband as president signed DOMA." Tribe taught Obama constitutional law at Harvard and appears in one of his presidential campaign ads. He called ABC News at the request of the Obama campaign and offered his criticism of the former first lady's position one day after Clinton and Obama took part in a presidential candidates' forum sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign. While both presidential candidates oppose legalizing same-sex marriage, the two Democrats are sharply at odds with one another on whether they would completely repeal DOMA. The 1996 law, which was approved by former President Bill Clinton, has two key components: One stipulates that no state need recognize a marriage between persons of the same sex, even if the marriage was recognized in another state, the other prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages for any purpose, even if recognized by one of the states.
Story Continues Below During Thursday's gay rights forum in Los Angeles, Clinton reiterated her support for repealing the portion of DOMA that pertains to federal benefits, according to ABC. "I want to repeal Sec. 3 of DOMA, which stands in the way of the extension of benefits to people in committed same-sex marriages, and, you know, I will be very strongly in favor of doing that as president," said Clinton at Thursday's forum. According to ABC, Clinton opposes repealing the full statute, however, because she views the nonbenefit portion of DOMA as standing for the principle that marriage should be left up to the states. "She believes marriage should be left up to the states," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer told ABC. As a matter of policy, Obama believes that states should be under no obligation to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. He wants to fully repeal DOMA, however, because he views the statute as "ineffectual and redundant" as a matter of law, in the words of Tribe.
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