Edwards comes out supporting gay marriage

[ProudToBeLiberal]

"If California chooses to recognize same-sex marriage, that's fine, and the federal government ought to honor it."

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA5PTT5NQD.html

Now does this force the other candidates to support gay marriage, especially kerry?

[aldian159]

1. Everyone is saying that

Leave it up to the states.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

2. That's already Kerry's position, and Dean's

Not a federal issue.

[JI7]

3. that was already kerry's position

when he was talking about the amendment which he may support, he was talking about the STATE constitution. not the federal united states constitution. this is why the supreme court is important. they will decide on whether states who do legalize same sex marriage violate the federal constitution. the same goes for the "under god" in the pledge of allegiance and many other issues which right wingers always want to use to divide people.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. People have to remember the we already have the right

to equal protection of the law under the 14th Amendment.

[JI7]

6. yes, and that's

how the justices will say that same sex marriage legalization by states is constitutional. but you know people like scalia,thomas, rhenquist don't care about the constitution, especially the equal rights part, and that's why our goal should be focused on getting more left leaning justices. if bush gets to appoint more scalia type justices than states which legalize same sex marriage will just end up being called unconstitutional by the right wing leaning court. they will even call civil unions unconstitutional.remember, it was judges appointed by the presidents we consider "moderate" which ruled the pledge unconstitutional with the "under god" and the ones which ruled sodomy bans to be unconstitutional. john kerry knows this.

[David__77]

5. This may not be Kerry's position. Federal recognition is a key point.

Edwards said explicitly that the federal aspect of DOMA should not apply. That is something I haven't heard one of the major candidates say before. I wonder if this was off the cuff, so to speak.

[RafterMan]

7. Since all the candidates have said it's a state issue

They must obviously believe that DOMA does not apply.

If DOMA did apply, it would not be a state issue.

[David__77]

11. DOMA does not ban same-sex marriage.

It simply "contains" it to the state of origin. It does, however, prohibit the federal government from recognizing them.

[JI7]

8. Kerry voted against the DOMA

i think only 14 voted against it. and john kerry was one of them.

[David__77]

12. This is very true.

And I appreciate that. But I would like to know if he feels that it should be repealed. I imagine his position is that it should not. I'm not necessarily criticizing him on this.

[Edwards4President]

9. He has said this before.

[Lexingtonian]

10. DOMA probably gets struck down

a few months or a year after a state legalizes gay marriage.

As soon as a married gay couple moves to another state and demands some kind of state action involving that status, which then gets denied, they get standing to challenge DOMA as a violation of the 14th Amendment. It's a relatively easy argument and only a lack of plaintiffs with standing has kept federal DOMA from being successfully attacked, I believe.