This Makes Me Feel A Little Better About Kerry....

[slinkerwink]

Kerry Supports Benefits for Legally Wed Gays

SAN FRANCISCO, March 3 -- Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), under fire from gay Democrats for opposing same-sex marriage, has promised that if elected president he would grant state-sanctioned gay couples the same 1,049 federal benefits married heterosexuals enjoy, according to people who met here with Kerry last Friday.

Kerry, who personally opposes gay marriage, said for the first time he would bestow all federal benefits such as the right to file joint incomes taxes and collect survivor benefits to same-sex couples who unite legally in civil unions, domestic partnerships and even marriage under their state laws. Kerry made the comments at a gay fundraiser in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood.

Until Friday's event, Kerry had talked mostly in general terms of providing federal benefits and the "same basic rights" to same-sex couples.

"It's the first time in history that a presidential candidate has ever supported full and equal protection for same-sex couples," said state Rep. Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat and an early Kerry supporter who attended Friday's fundraiser and queried Kerry about his position. "He told me that he would grant all 1,049 federal rights to same-sex couples in whatever legal union their states recognize," said Leno, who has sponsored a bill that would legalize gay marriage in California.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28566-2004Mar3.html

If this is true, then it helps me feel better about him, but I still don't like Kerry politically and I think that he should unequivocally support gay marriage in Massachussetts. I think there could've been a better nominee, but it looks like he's it as far as we're concerned. If Kerry sticks by his promise when he's President, then it gives me hope for my future. I will forever always be a Dean Democrat, and all of my support will go to congressional races. The only support I'll give Kerry will be a vote for him in Nov 2004.

[WillyBrandt]

1. Keep your mind open to Kerry

If he continues to surprise you with things like that, please considering volunteering for or donating to him.

Just sayin...

[slinkerwink]

2. I don't think I can volunteer or donate for him when my heart isn't in it

but I will volunteer and donate to congressional races.

[WillyBrandt]

5. Keep an open heart--things are going to change a lot

But if you're doing Congressional stuff, I can't fault you one bit. That is totally vital, and might even be a better use of time.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. You never know what will be the straw to break the back of BushCo

Helping at the congressional, state or local level is just as good. We're all in this together!

[lindashaw]

3. I was a Deanie, too. But be brave, Little Buckaroo. Let's split the

difference with Kerry and help him win.

[DuctapeFatwa]

6. Don't get to feeling too good till you read the whole thing

Some Democrats were threatening to pull back on financial support. "There were a lot of people who were very upset at the way his position was described," said Jeff Soukup, who along with his partner has been a host of fundraisers for Kerry. "And there were a lot of people who had been planning to attend the fundraiser who said they would not attend until Kerry clarified his position." Kerry did, first through surrogates and then in person.
...

Kerry might have a hard time upholding his promise. Granting federal rights to same-sex couples contradicts a major provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, said Tobias Wolff, a professor at the Stanford University School of Law and an expert on gay legal issues.

The provisions state that federal benefits for married people may not apply to same-sex couples, and that judgments stemming from a same-sex union are not portable from state to state....

[slinkerwink]

7. damn. *sigh* looks like it was a false promise then

for those full 1,049 benefits to be extended to gay couples, they'd have to reverse DOMA.

[WillyBrandt]

8. Remember, Kerry voted against DOMA.

Moreover, later legislation supersedes preceding legislation. Kerry is a smart legislator; it can be done

[slinkerwink]

9. I'm not so sure now----it'd take the SCOTUS to overturn DOMA

[WillyBrandt]

11. If Dems won Congress--or could get wavering GOP help--

And they passed a law saying same sex couples employed by the Feds could get benefits, then that would be it. The DOMA wouldn't matter as the new law superseded it.

DOMA isn't an amendment. Like you implied, I think, is we'd need Congressional power, but I'd see Kerry supporting the measure.

[slinkerwink]

14. that's why we need more attention on congressional races

and I was incensed at the article that said that party leaders weren't confident about getting new seats in Congress.

[WillyBrandt]

15. The article had little support in fact

Democratic Congressional leaders seem pretty hyped about the idea. The article extrapolated too much. (The DCCC blog, Stakeholder, addressed this.)

SW, I'll say this at a minimum. If Kerry was President, and we had Congress, you'd be pretty happy (overall) with how the country was going politically.

[DuctapeFatwa]

10. voting against it and pledging to repeal it during the campaign are

two very different shows.

It is a shrewd thing to say to save the fundraiser, and get the pledges in from gay supporters, but issues like this are not easy for any politician, and doubly challenging for one like Kerry, who has built a career on his remarkable talent for ornate sentence clusters that have his best friend and his worst enemy debating for days - each insisting that he MEANT that he agreed with their respective and diametrically opposed views :)

[slinkerwink]

12. which is why if Kerry's the president, the gay community will be

watching him very closely. Clinton betrayed us with DOMA, and Kerry could do so if there isn't a movement from his office to repeal DOMA.

[WillyBrandt]

13. Kerry has been pretty consistent in his views on gay rights

It's been everything up to, but not including, gay marriage. And no screwing with the Fed constitution. He really has a pretty decent record on this.

And Kerry's an old, grizzled Senator. He knows how to do things. With good Congressoinal condiditions, and with a more tolerant society, I think he'd get it done.

[DuctapeFatwa]

16. I think challenging DOMA as unconsitutional would have a better chance

You are right Kerry is an old grizzled Senator. And one of the ways you get to be one is by knowing how to avoid making either side too mad.

Since reading the fine print is not a popular pastime of either side, it's possible, but not easy.

I would like to see the ACLU get some widows and kids who have been denied equal protection under the law due to DOMA's conflict with the 14th amendment, and see if they can't come up with some papers to drop in a few inboxes.

go ahead and

[WillyBrandt]

18. I'd love for them to. It's make DOMA defeat easier.

Kerry is broadly pro-gay rights and he's been progressive on it for a long time. He's not 100% there, but that's fine. This is a bottoms-up (so to speak) movement, and not one led by politicians.

Kerry will follow on this issue, and he'll follow the right way.

[slinkerwink]

20. I think that's too optimistic---I disagreed with Kerry's supporting a ban

on gay marriage if it allowed civil unions. I disagreed with that because Kerry went against the MA SCOTUS in supporting a ban on gay marriages, because the MA SCOTUS said gay marriage was legal and that civil unions were unconstitutional.

[DuctapeFatwa]

21. I have no doubt he will do what he feels is in his best interest

And if the courts can be persuaded to declare DOMA unconstitutional I don't think that he would declare martial law and disband the courts.

But remember that one of the reasons so many Republicans oppose bush's amendment is because DOMA makes it unneccessary.

Sure, a state can pass its own law, but that means nothing as far as all the however many thousands of federal bennies are concerned, and it doesn't help families who move to another state, or any of the 17 squillion horror stories that ensue when State A does not recognize a marriage contracted in State B.

An amendment specifically guaranteeing equal protection under the law to same sex couples SHOULD be unneccessary because of the 14th amendment.

But I don't think it will be until somebody takes DOMA to court and gets it the death penalty.

[waldenx]

17. don't be fooled

once you put trust in Kerry he will betray you.
He is pandering and has no intention of actually doing it.

[WillyBrandt]

19. "Once you put trust in Kerry he will betray you."

He's like Lucifer in that way. :eyes: