White House Response To DOMA Question

The White House issued its official response to The Advocate's question earlier this week about what the Obama administration is doing to ensure that same-sex marriages could be recognized by the federal government.

According to a statement from the White House press office, "DOMA is a federal law passed by Congress that precludes uniform federal recognition of same-sex relationships, even those recognized as valid under the law of the state. Because the President believes that this is an issue that should be left to the states, he continues to support the legislative repeal of DOMA."

The answer more or less summarized a portion of the 1996 law and restated the first part of the original question, which referenced President Obama's support for full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.

But the White House statement stopped short of substantively addressing the second part of the question, which sought a remedy and a timeline for honoring same-sex marriages: "Now that same-sex couples can marry legally in five different states, what is the president doing to make sure those marriages can be recognized at the federal level, and what's the timeline for something like that?"

Robert Gibbs, responded during the press briefing by saying, "I have to go check on that. I honestly don't know the answer to that."