Bill Clinton, the man who signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) into law, has joined the growing chorus of prominent Americans urging the Supreme Court to overturn it, 17 years after it became law.
Writing an op-ed in the Washington Post this week Clinton said: 'On March 27, DOMA will come before the Supreme Court, and the justices must decide whether it is consistent with the principles of a nation that honors freedom, equality and justice above all, and is therefore constitutional. As the president who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and, in fact, incompatible with our Constitution.'
Commentators are calling Clinton's move a remarkable about-face, especially for a former president, since they rarely disavow major legislation once they have signed it.
According to the Daily News, in his op-ed this week Clinton notes that 1996 was 'a very different time,' but he has still refrained from outlining exactly why he signed it.
In recent years Clinton has said said some DOMA supporters in fact believed its passage 'would defuse a movement to enact a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which would have ended the debate for a generation or more.'
But prominent gay rights activist Michelangelo Signorile immediately took issue with Clinton's recollections, calling his justification 'disingenuous' and 'revisionist history.' Signorile also denied that Democrats were trying to stop a constitutional amendment from being passed in 1996. 'In fact, gay activists cannot recall any mention of a constitutional amendment until years later,' Signorile wrote.
In his op-ed Clinton writes that he now knows the law was discriminatory. In fact, DOMA was one of most discriminatory anti-gay statutes in American history.
Comparing the struggle for gay rights to the women’s fight for the right to vote, Clinton wrote: 'I believe that in 2013 DOMA and opposition to marriage equality are vestiges of just such an unfamiliar society.'
'Americans have been at this sort of a crossroads often enough to recognize the right path,' he wrote. 'We understand that, while our laws may at times lag behind our best natures, in the end they catch up to our core values.'
In his op-ed Clinton offered his perspective on his decision to sign DOMA, but he offered no apology. Clinton also signed the so-called Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that was eventually repealed in 2011.
DOMA reportedly comes before the Supreme Court on March 27; it is is also considering a challenge to California’s gay marriage ban known as Proposition 8.
The Obama administration has written a friend-of-the-court-brief calling on the Supreme Court to strike down that ban. President Obama's leadership on gay rights issues stands in sharp contrast to Clinton's altogether more cautious two terms.
'The reason Bill Clinton signed DOMA is, quite simply, because he refused to be leader on a civil rights issue, irrationally fearful of the ramifications of vetoing the bill and rationalizing the damage caused by signing it,' Signorile wrote in the Huffington Post.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.KweenOHearts | Mar 13, 2013, 01:47 PM EDT
@olove-er-ugly who says: **Actually, God hates you celticguy22 for daring to speak for Him.** ----- Uh.. actually, since theology dictates that God is ALL LOVE, and that by His very nature is incapable of hating... I would be willing to bet it is for you, whose comments witness daily as to the utter dark that lives inside your soul, that He might feel pity or contempt for daring to think you can read His mind.
Smyrnian | Mar 13, 2013, 06:54 AM EDT
Stevenstar - your statement is as obvious as it is true for all of us. Never knew you were a philosopher.
STEVENSTAR | Mar 12, 2013, 08:39 PM EDT
@@@celticguy22 | Mar 12, 2013, 02:52 PM EDT >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>YOUR ENTITLED TO YOUR OPINION MATE. BUT IT DOESNT MAKE YOU RIGHT.. YOU ARE JUST A MERE SPECK OF DUST IN THE GREAT UNIVERSE.. SO DONT THINK YOUR THAT IMPORTANT AND 100 YEARS FROM NOW WILL ANYONE CARE WHAT YOU THOUGHT ..? DOOUBT IT VERY MUCH..SO DONT GET TOO STRESSED OVER IT... ARE YOU GAY YOURSELF , MARRIED , SINGLE , IN THE CLERGY PERHAPS??
Smyrnian | Mar 12, 2013, 05:55 PM EDT
Slick Willy has been known to 'rise to the occasion' from time to time. ;)
olovely | Mar 12, 2013, 04:37 PM EDT
Former HRC President Elizabeth Birch on Clinton's DOMA reversal: "The bottom line is that the politics of DOMA in 1996 were admittedly tough and painful for all of us, but the FMA was simply not a threat at that time...I do believe the President could have survived a veto. He simply chose not to test history. So, my point is this: While President Clinton could not fully rise to that moment in history, he could at least now report it accurately."
olovely | Mar 12, 2013, 03:01 PM EDT
Actually, God hates you celticguy22 for daring to speak for Him.
celticguy22 | Mar 12, 2013, 02:52 PM EDT
I'm surprised! Even though I have 2 friends who are in a civil union, I still believe that marriage is between one man and one woman(which is how God made it). It's a moral wrong that shouldn't be a civil right. God doesn't hate gays or lesbians; he just hates their lifestyle and their agenda.
STEVENSTAR | Mar 12, 2013, 09:53 AM EDT
HAHA BILL CLINTON DEFENDING MARRIAGE???? AFTER HIS PAST RECORD .. AND HIM RIDING HIS SECRETARY MONICA LEWINSKY AND THEN PUBLICALLY DENYING IT ...THATS A DOUBLE STANDARD IF I EVER HERAD ONE... ONLY IN AMERICA ...!!!
Smyrnian | Mar 12, 2013, 07:58 AM EDT
Never liked slick Willie but I have come to realize he is worlds apart from the idiot in office now, the guy who is tearing our country apart with his partisan approach to everything, his 'all ways are my ways' style and the tax, spend and borrowing from the Chinese is simply unsustainable. Bring Bill back! We need jobs not bigger government!
Eschetic | Mar 11, 2013, 08:22 PM EDT
DOMA was probably the NADIR of the Clinton Administration and a blatant betrayal of both his supporters and his principles in the same misguided attempt to find rational compromise with the radical Right Wing who WILL not compromise which cost us Moderates control of our party. Fortunately, the country has clearly moved beyond this issue and DOMA is as dead a reminder of the bad old years of bigotry as the Dred Scott Decision.
SingleDonald | Mar 11, 2013, 07:57 PM EDT
I agree that Bill Clinton is "flip-flopping", due to political expediency. However, I object to those below, who consider him a "rapist". Monica Lewinsky, who turns 40 this summer, was 22 when their liasons began. She freely consented, and later learned her lesson, concerning getting involved with a married man. Married men seldom leave their wives over an affair, and I hope this lesson reached other girls, who were considering the same. In 1998/99, I asked my Congressman, Peter King NOT to vote to impeach Bill Clinton. He agreed! He said that this behavior was wrong, but that it did not rise to the level of impeachment. As all recall, Congress voted to impeach, but the Senate voted not to convict. I rejoiced that Bill Clinton was not kicked out of office. Also, enough already with the "different power levels" argument. Someone 22 is old enough to say "Yes", or "No" If the president had made life miserable for Monica, had she said "no", THAT would have been grounds for sexual harassment. Monica, as I recall, persued the president. Had Bill Clinton been single, widowed, or divorced, I would have seen nothing wrong with the liasons. Likewise, I saw nothing wrong with an unmarried David Letterman getting involved with gals on his staff. I wish the "politically correct" crowd would stop acting like fundamentalist Christians, where consensual encounters take place!
anglo-norman | Mar 11, 2013, 03:52 PM EDT
Slick Willie wants to be popular always
alisaann | Mar 11, 2013, 03:37 PM EDT
I TEND TO BELIEVE THAT WHAT HE SAYS....IT COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE,HAD HE NOT DONE WHAT HE DID...AND NOW, HE'S DOING WHAT HE CAN TO FIX THIS. ALISA
wjb1tex | Mar 11, 2013, 01:19 PM EDT
Ah yes, the old "those were different times" defense. Let one former segregation proponent use that ( as many have ) and watch to see how forgiving our liberal friends are.
Butch1 | Mar 11, 2013, 01:01 PM EDT
It's the least he could do after this seventeen year mistake. He also signed into law DADT which was another huge injustice under which gays and lesbians are still fighting to become equal in the services of our country. Legally married gays and lesbians' spouses are not afforded any of the rights and benefits that the straights spouses receive just by being married to their straight service member. In fact if the gay spouse dies in battle, their spouse will not be recognized to receive any surviving benefits whatsoever. This is all because of Former President Clinton's signing of DOMA. He needs to be atoning for that discrimination and huge problem he caused gay citizens creating a second-class citizenship for them.
EphraimKibbey | Mar 11, 2013, 12:50 PM EDT
Seanmor - "But even if the Supreme Court rejects DOMA, it will not invalidate normal marriages between one man and one woman." That is EXACTLY the whole point! Marriage between a man and a woman needs no defence as it has never been in any danger nor will it be if DOMA is found unconstitutional. On the contrary, it is LGBT rights that have been under constant assault. If "all men (and women) are created equal" they should be treated equally by the laws of our country! Therefore DOMA is unconstitutional by its creation of a subclass of people who are denied rights granted to the rest of the population. This is the path toward universal equality that our country (and civilization) has been on since 1776 (and the Magna Carta was signed.) Allowing gays to marry does nothing to harm traditional marriage and probably reinforces marriage in general as the rational foundation for building a family and strengthens family values. Only a "bully" society would try to build its self up by putting others down.
pilib04 | Mar 11, 2013, 10:57 AM EDT
I see the "Judgement crowd" have already posted 5 comments. Must be nice to be G*d. As for President Clinton, still supported by a majority of Americans and a majority of Irish.
PhlutiePhan | Mar 11, 2013, 10:44 AM EDT
"It all depends on what the meaning of 'is' is". Willie started secretly ran in gay circles all along. He "ran the road" and his wife ran "on the other side of the fence".
JimmieM | Mar 11, 2013, 10:41 AM EDT
Right we need advise from a man forced to pay a fine for violently raping a woman...a man who abused a young woman, forever altering her life for the worse...this is the guy we would seek for advise?
McCloskey | Mar 11, 2013, 10:41 AM EDT
Ah, the wisdom of a pervert, rapest, impeached President and a sewer trout in general...what moral authoriety
olovely | Mar 09, 2013, 03:49 PM EST
There's no such thing as a normal marriage between 'one man and one woman.'Most marriages are bizarre lifelong wrestling matches. Each time bigots like Seanmor open their mouths they make same sex marriage equality more of a certainty, because who wants to sound like Seanmor?
Seanmor | Mar 09, 2013, 03:39 PM EST
It should NOT be a surprise to anyone that any politician who opposes some of the teaching in the Holy Bible should join the ranks of those who wish to redefine marriage by making is available to same-sex couples. But even if the Supreme Court rejects DOMA, it will not invalidate normal marriages between one man and one woman.