When asked by The Advocate last month if she believed that President Barack Obama should support marriage equality prior to the 2012 reelection, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who in March introduced legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, replied, “I believe that support of the president would be very welcomed. I hope he endorses my bill to repeal DOMA.”
On that front, the senior senator from California got her wish today when White House officials announced the president would do so, one day prior to the first Senate hearing on legislative attempts to repeal the 1996 law that deprives same-sex married couples the same federal rights as their heterosexual counterparts.
“The president has long called for a legislative repeal of the so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act,’ which continues to have a real impact on the lives of real people — our families, friends and neighbors,” White House spokesman Shin Inouye said in a Tuesday statement.
“[Obama] is proud to support the Respect for Marriage Act, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Jerrold Nadler, which would take DOMA off the books once and for all. This legislation would uphold the principle that the federal government should not deny gay and lesbian couples the same rights and legal protections as straight couples,” Inouye said.
Feinstein’s bill and the companion House bill reintroduced by Nadler are unlikely to become law in the current session, as Feinstein indicated to reporters at a Tuesday press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
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