By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade
Jun 11 2008, 5:58 PM |
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The only open lesbian in
the U.S. House of Representatives is predicting that in the next session of
Congress, bills related to employment non-discrimination and hate crimes will
be more successful than legislation aimed at repealing the Defense of Marriage
Act and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Rep. Tammy Baldwin
(D-Wisc.) made the comments today at a Center for American Progress forum
geared toward highlighting the importance of the Domestic Partner Benefits and
Obligations Act, which would grant the partners of gay federal employees the
same benefits that are available to the spouses of straight counterparts.
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.)
joined Baldwin in the panel discussion. Other speakers at the event included
former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former U.S. Ambassador to
Romania Michael Guest, who resigned his 26-year career as a foreign service
officer last year in protest of federal employment practices.
Baldwin said she is “very
optimistic” that ENDA and a hate crimes measure would pass Congress next
session, particularly if Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who has
supported these initiatives, take the White House.
The congresswoman also said
she expects progress on the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act,
which has not moved this session from the House and Senate committees to which
it had been assigned.
But Baldwin said the
success in “repealing discriminatory laws” already on the books “is a little
less clear.”
“I think we will see more
discretion on those — whether or not it can move to next level of repeal will
be a challenge,” she said.
Baldwin told the Blade she
did not “have a perfect crystal ball” for what would happen in the next
Congress, but said she thinks it would be easier to “hit the ground running” with
ENDA and a hate crimes measure as opposed to other initiatives.
She noted that Congress has
already taken some action on ENDA and hate crimes this session, so lawmakers
are familiar with those issues and more willing to take up the matters again
next year.
Baldwin also said there are
difficulties in repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage
Act because some of the lawmakers who voted for these measures in the 1990s are
still in Congress.
Smith, who is up for
election in Oregon this year, expressed similar sentiments that ENDA and a hate
crimes measure would pass Congress when a new president takes over in 2009 —
but the senator asserted these acts would pass whether the new chief executive
is Obama or Republican candidate John McCain.
Smith, who was recently
endorsed by Log Cabin Republicans, said McCain has “been with [him] on a number
of gay and lesbian issues,” but did not during the panel discussion mention any
issues they agreed upon.
“I know John McCain’s
heart,” he said. “I just never found John McCain really hard over on these
issues — or ideologically driven on these issues.”
Smith also struggled with
words when trying to defend his support for benefits for the partners of gay
federal employees as well as his previous support for the Federal Marriage
Amendment.
The senator said he voted
for the Federal Marriage Amendment because he didn’t want “federal judges to
impose it on other states that were voting differently.”
“If states want to
democratically go about it, then that’s what they should do, but I do not want
a federal judge imposing it on other parts of the jurisdiction,” he said.
Smith noted he has been a “devout
Mormon” for 33 years and said if the government starts redefining marriage it
could detrimental consequences for some groups.
“If we start defining
marriage — we have a long history of doing that in this country — my Mormon
pioneer ancestors were the victims of that,” he said. “They were literally driven
from the United States in the dead of winter for their religious beliefs. I don’t
want that coming back.”
Smith said “tinkering” with
the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman would have
implications that “are much broader than the gay and lesbian community.”
Both lawmakers expressed
their support for Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act during the
event.
Smith said “with a new
Congress and a new president, the stage is set” and
the number of Senate co-sponsors for the bill will grow to get it passed next
session.
Baldwin
expressed similar optimism that the House would pass the legislation and called
congressional action this session “a dress rehearsal” for passage that would
come later.
The
congresswoman has engaged in correspondence in April and May with the State
Department on the matter of giving benefits to the partners of gay foreign
service officers.
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