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发帖数: 19713 | 1 The House of Representatives passed a Defense Appropriations bill Thursday
inclusive of an amendment from Rep. Steve King of Iowa that would ban same-
sex couples from marrying at military facilities and prohibit military
chaplains from performing the ceremonies.
Politico reports on the measure introduced by King, who said that President
Obama and the secretary of Defense were “contravening” the Defense of
Marriage Act by allowing the marriages to take place. Last year, after
repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” took effect, the Defense Department
issued a memo to chaplains allowing the ceremonies to occur provided they
were not “prohibited by applicable state and local law.” The memo also
said a chaplain was not required to participate in any ceremony if it
violated “his or her religion or personal beliefs.”
In a floor speech, King called the directive “not just permission,” but he
said it “implied encouragement to conduct same-sex marriages on our
military bases conducted by our chaplains presumably who are all under the
payroll of the U.S. government.”
The House passed the amendment 247-166, with 17 Democrats voting in favor
and five Republicans opposed. GOP lawmakers who voted against the King
amendment include Reps. Judy Biggert of Illinois, Richard Hanna of New York,
Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Nan Hayworth of New York, and Ileana Ros-
Lehtinen of Florida, the only Republican Congress member to support DOMA
repeal. All five later voted for the 2013 Defense Appropriations bill, which
passed the House by a vote of 326-90 and now heads to the Senate.
Prior to the vote on the amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union sent
a letter to representatives urging them to vote no. The organization
provided The Advocate with a copy of the letter.
“This amendment, which says that none of the funds made available by the
Act may be used in contravention of the discriminatory so-called Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA), is both unnecessary and redundant,” said the letter.
“The Department of Defense does not need Congress to tell it that it cannot
use funding in violation of the law. While there are multiple legal
challenges to DOMA working their way through the federal courts, it is still
the law of the land. The Department of Defense, like all federal agencies,
is bound to uphold the law. The King Amendment serves absolutely no
purpose other than to score election year political points at the expense of
gay and lesbian couples and their families.”
Fred Sainz, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, agreed the amendmdent
is unneccesary and said it only highlights discrimination faced by troops
under the Defense of Marriage Act, which the HRC is continually lobbying to
repeal. And he says repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" came with similar
warnings from the opposition that it "would destroy the fabric of our nation
’s military" but now "military officials have concurred that the repeal of
'don’t ask, don’t tell' was ultimately a non-event."
"This amendment is an attempt to distract from the smooth transition we have
seen in the military after the repeal of 'don’t ask, don’t tell' last
year," he said.
King, who once called same-sex marriage "a purely socialist concept” in a
radio interview, has been a partner with NOM in Iowa. The Des Moines
Register reports that the confidential memos unsealed earlier this year in a
federal court case in Maine show that NOM recruited King to “lay out a
plan” to fight marriage equality “just hours after” the state supreme
court ruling in 2009.
The five-term incumbent from Western Iowa is a priority target of Democrats
this year. The party has nominated Christie Vilsack, wife of former Governor
Tom Vilsack, to challenge him. |
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