Dems go on offense on DOMA

Dems go on offense on DOMA

It's nice to see Democrats getting ahead on an issue for a change:

Democrats in both the House and Senate will mount a coordinated attack Wednesday on the Defense of Marriage Act.

In the House, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, will join the chamber’s four openly gay members – Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and David Cicilline (D-R.I.) – in introducing a bill to repeal DOMA, the 1996 law which bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will introduce a companion bill in the Senate.

Although it's not really ahead, when a poll yesterday shows "51 percent of voters oppose DOMA, while just 34 percent favor it."

Of course it's going nowhere in the Republican House, and the filibuster kills it in the Senate. But it's still the right thing to do: take a strong stand on an issue that's getting more popular by the year, instead of cowering in fear.

Here's a little secret about us lefties: we like a good futile fight. One of the things we loved about Minnette Doderer was those lone votes on a 99 to 1 roll call (98-2 after Ed Fallon got elected).

So let's see some Iowa Democrats as co-sponsors on this ASAP.