Michael Bennet, Democratic U.S. Senator, Is Co-Sponsoring A Bill To Repeal Gay Marriage Ban

On Thursday, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) has signed on as a co-sponsor for a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a ban of gay marriage that was signed into law in 1996 by President Bill Clinton.

Bennet joins 26 other senators that back the “Respect for Marriage Act” (S. 598) which would allow same-sex couples to receive the same federal marriage benefits that heterosexual couples already receive including joint federal income tax filing, Social Security spousal benefits and other traditional marriage benefits.

Bennet says in a press release statement:

The federal government should no longer pick and choose which legal marriages to recognize. Married same-sex couples deserve the same federal marriage benefits that my wife and I enjoy. No married couples should be denied these marriage benefits, and they should not have to worry that their spouses will be denied Social Security surviving spouse benefits or equal family health benefits.

Early in 2011, President Barack Obama criticized DOMA for being unconstitutional and said that the Justice Department should no longer defend the law in court. Shortly thereafter, Speaker of the House John Boehner announced that he was leading a group to defend DOMA with private funds, according to The Colorado Independent.

The Respect for Marriage Act would not force states that do not recognize same-sex marriages to do so, however legally married same-sex couples living in states that do not recognize their marriage would still receive federal marriage benefits, regardless.

Currently, same-sex marriage is legal in five states (Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and New Hampshire) and Washington D.C. all of which also provide equal state benefits to all legally married couples.

Read the Respect for Marriage Act in its entirety here.

Comments

[truth be told again]

05:05 PM on 06/14/2011

Re: " I believe the 14th Amendment already trumps DOMA"

I believe it too. Unfortunately, the DOMA EXEMPTS ITSELF from the Full Faith & Credit Clause. How can ANY law that EXEMPTS ITSELF from parts of the Constitution be considered 'Constitutional' in the first place? Anyone?

[PrairieGayCompanion]

07:50 PM on 06/20/2011

This is why there is such a hard fought attempt to keep it from going to the Supreme Court and why there are many in the Senate trying to repeal it. Congress does not like it's laws overturned by the Supremes.

[truth be told again]

04:47 PM on 06/14/2011

Wow! This IS good news.

[DenverBigDaddy]

09:13 AM on 06/13/2011

This argument is just laughable. Currently the divorce rate is what....at least 50%?? Any "sanctity" that marriage once had has disappeared over the last 25-30 years. There is no reason, other than religious to oppose it. And since we are "supposed" to have separation of church and state(cough, cough, chuckle, chuckle) it should be a non-issue.

[JeremiahA]

12:16 PM on 06/12/2011

Well, another disingenuous challenge to marriage in America. The bill reads "To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State regulation of marriage." If this were truly about benefits, there are other means.

[Ioan Lightoller]

03:00 PM on 06/12/2011

Nope. All the rights you have. Why should I have to spend money I don't have in an effort to hobble together something approaching all the rights you get automatically by marriage. Equality. Learn what the word means, because it IS coming.

[JeremiahA]

03:19 PM on 06/12/2011

I am sorry to have to disagree with you again, but we both have the same rights. One of us simply chooses not to engage in the privilege afforded to us both.

[David Silvey]

11:52 AM on 06/13/2011

It is only a matter of time until Gay Marriage is legal in all 50 states. You better get used to it. Actually unless you are Gay you should not have any input in this at all, because it doesn't concern you in the least.

[JeremiahA]

02:35 PM on 06/13/2011

Well, same-sex marriage activists claim marriage supporters are on the wrong side of history. If marriage is radically revised, stripped of its normative content, and children are automatically denied a mother and a father in all fifty states, then we as Americans will all be on the wrong side of history.

Marriage concerns everyone because it involves all members of society since marriage begins a family and families are the building blocks of society.

[KDMac]

10:51 AM on 06/17/2011

Tell that to the men who weigh in on the abortion issue.

[LisaCACO]

11:59 AM on 06/12/2011

wow, a bennet sighting! I thought we only heard from him at election time.

[pharmmajor]

04:03 PM on 06/11/2011

Libertarian party supports equal marriage rights for gays:
http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/libertarians-say-marriage-equality-only-one-step-toward-ending-legal-discriminat

[truth be told again]

04:55 PM on 06/14/2011

Um, that's gonna come as a surprise to Rand Paul, Ron Paul and their half-brotha Ru Paul.

[Cacey]

11:28 AM on 06/11/2011

I'll proabaly throw a kink in the argument when I say that after 30 years, my partner and I have no desire to be married. The simple fact that either one of us could walk out the door with no problem at any time has made us more fully appreciate each other on a daily basis as well as over time. We've chosen to live in area where there is no problem with sexuality and have families that are more than accepting plus a good lawyer. And while both of us have gone through some really hard times health wise and from a professional standpoint over the decades, the other has always been there and they didn't have to be. That's the real meaning of a relationship.

[collegeguy1120]

07:58 PM on 06/11/2011

That doesn't throw a kink in the argument. You and your partner chose to be in such a relationship, and it works for y'all. Every couple should have the right to choose their own path, whether that choice is marriage or another form of partnership.

[Cacey]

09:19 PM on 06/11/2011

Thanks. But at the same time appreciate the fact that those with less money for lawyers and those living in more backward areas are denied the rights given to hetrosexuals who do marry. And sincerely I wish you the best of success and thank you for a very civil response.

[geoffrey s]

10:49 AM on 06/12/2011

My partner and I are coming onto our 23rd anniversary and would like to be married. We have the social recognition of our friends and family but now we want to legal recognition as well. I think if you're happy not to marry then you should feel free to make that choice - but in most of the US, you cannot choose to not marry since you have no choice in the matter at all ....

[truth be told again]

04:59 PM on 06/14/2011

geoffrey,

You and your 'partner' CAN fulfill your wish "to be married". Simply go to any State of country (like Canada) that has no residency requirement. You will be married. Legally. That you will not then have ALL of the benefits, privileges, rights and obligations that accrue to married couples is another matter. You will still have to work for that. But you WILL BE MARRIED. Please consider this course of action. Thousands of others have.

[Atwill]

10:30 AM on 06/11/2011

There are over 1,000 benefits that straight married couples get automatically with straight marraige that are denied to gays with civil union. and this includes straight couples that just met ten minutes ago and then go to a quickie wedding in Vegas and are married by Elvis. So you are saying a gay couple that has been together for say 20 years do not deserve the same rights / benefit as these people?

[bannorhill]

07:10 PM on 06/13/2011

Benefits like "child of a veteran is entitled to receive monthly dependency and indemnity
compensation payments"

So how do 2 people of the same gender produce a child?

[Atwill]

08:22 PM on 06/13/2011

Are you kidding? Did you really ask me this? Then tell me how infertial women reproduce? should we deny them marraige? My dad remarried at the age of 55 to a woman that same age, and guess what, they were not going to have anymore kids. should their marraige be denied? What a joke.

[truth be told again]

05:00 PM on 06/14/2011

Reproduction is not a requirement of marriage - ANYONE'S! Infertile heterosexuals get married all the time.

DO BETTER.

[obama20082012]

08:01 PM on 06/10/2011

As a professional tax preparer, I will cry tears of joy, the first time I get the opportunity to do married filing joint return for a gay couple!

[WheelsOnFire]

12:37 AM on 06/11/2011

I hope you get that opportunity very, very soon!

Fanned and faved, gratefully and enthusiastically!

[Ioan Lightoller]

08:47 AM on 06/11/2011

I sure hope you get that chance soon as well. Even though taxes can be a pain in the butt, the first year GLBT couples are allowed to file jointly will be a big landmark.

[Ioan Lightoller]

07:55 PM on 06/10/2011

I get so mad when idiot bigot posters come on and claim that their voting against our rights is merely a "matter of disagreement"> When someone wants to roll back or revoke the rights of others, it is far beyond mere "disgreement".

[Atwill]

10:31 AM on 06/11/2011

You are right. to deny others their American rights is a hate crime as far as I am concerned.

[Ioan Lightoller]

03:02 PM on 06/12/2011

You know, Atwill, I am more than willing to drink to that proposition.

[BillOlson]

07:55 PM on 06/10/2011

This is a good start but there needs to be fair and equal recognition in ALL states, not just the more "liberal" states where marriage equality currently exists.

[Ioan Lightoller]

07:57 PM on 06/10/2011

Agreed. But there still needs to be marriage equality in all 50 states and on a nationwide level.

[josephRoehl]

07:53 PM on 06/10/2011

Gay families already have successfully raised millions of children, and research proves they do a great job. It's well past time to pass this legislation and remind the world that America leads by example, not by religio-fraudsters' bullying. Good for you Senator Michael Bennet. I believe the 14th Amendment already trumps DOMA, but the way the greedy shills of nonsense run things for corporate religio-fraudsters who covered up the fact that Jesus was gay or bi, and that all love is holy, or none is...you'd think we were still living in the times of the KKK.

[WheelsOnFire]

07:40 PM on 06/10/2011

Bravo for Michael Bennet!

A true American who stands up for this nation's founding principles of freedom and equality for all.

If only there were more like him.

[obama20082012]

08:00 PM on 06/10/2011

There are more than you think and more everyday! I know it's difficult to be patient, but it will happen.

[timbohp]

06:36 PM on 06/10/2011

thanks for recognizing that I am a citizen too!

[Cleverboots]

06:36 PM on 06/10/2011

I'm going to give Senator Bennett the benefit of the doubt and assume that he has been asleep, like Rip VanWinkle and does not know that we have economic issues-jobs, foreclosures, and a debt ceiling which should demand his full attention. If, however, he is unable to focus on them and instead take the Country back to the Dark Ages by overturning the repeal of DADT, he should change his political affiliation and become a Conservative Republican since that is where his political ideology belongs.

[WheelsOnFire]

07:44 PM on 06/10/2011

First, it is possible to deal concurrently with a major civil rights issue and all the other issues that are of concern to you.

Remember 1964? This country was mired in the Viet Nam war and dealing with tough economic issues. Yet it still was able to pass the Civil Rights Act so that all of its citizens could begin receiving the full freedom and equality promised by our Constitution.

And note that Bennet is seeking to repeal DOMA, which is quite different from DADT.

[Cleverboots]

09:16 PM on 06/10/2011

He's right on DOMA, wrong on DADT