News

Log Cabin Republicans on DOMA: Fight the Law, Not the Lawyer

April 27, 2011

(Washington, DC) – Log Cabin Republicans call upon all Americans who support marriage equality and the end of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to remain focused on the mission of achieving equality through legislative action or due process of law.

"As with 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' overturning the Defense of Marriage Act will require combating the law on multiple fronts, from Congress to the courts to the kitchen table. Log Cabin Republicans are committed to playing our part in seeing this statute is ended," said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director. "For that to happen, we must stay focused on our mission, making arguments for equality based on the principles of freedom and family that unite all Americans. Everyday we are gaining new allies, including former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, who will be speaking at the Log Cabin Republicans National Convention in Dallas this week. As a freshman member of Congress in 1996, Barr wrote DOMA. He has since come to the conclusion that 'DOMA's language reflects one-way federalism' and that the law 'has become a de facto club used to limit, if not thwart, the ability of a state to choose to recognize same-sex unions,' contrary to the traditional Republican respect for states' rights, and that DOMA should be repealed. These are the allies and arguments that will ultimately see an end to this failed policy."