Calling out the damn lies and statistics

Senator Diane Feinstein has introduced a bill, the Respect for Marriage Act, to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. And she means not just the part that the federal gov't can't acknowledge gay marriages but also the part that says states don't have to accept gay marriages performed in other states. With that bill now in the senate system hearings were held yesterday. It featured testimony from gays hurt by the law, such as a man who had to sell his condo when his partner died because the partner's federal pension didn't recognize him.

There were the usual cast of anti-gay bigots, such as Thomas Minnery of Focus on the Family. And senators Al Franken and Patrick Leahy were ready. Minnery claimed that children do better in mother-and-father families. Franken pounced. Nope, the study says "nuclear families" and families headed by a same-sex couple are included in that definition. Franken said, "And I frankly don’t really know how we can trust the rest of your testimony if you are reading studies these ways." Leahy then got Minnery to agree that children are better off with gay parents than with no parents and that gay couples should have the same financial benefits as a straight couple. Thank you, Mr. Franken and Mr. Leahy.

This is why the anti-gay crowd doesn't like legal proceedings. They would rather trumpet their false claims without having to provide proof as part of an election campaign.

E. J. Graff, in an article in The Atlantic, has a full report on the hearing and compares it to the hearings held 15 years ago when DOMA was enacted. One aspect didn't change -- various witnesses said pretty much the same thing as was said before (though perhaps different people saying it). Ah, but the words coming out of the mouths of senators was quite different.

Back in 1996, no senator was calling the antigay forces on their lies, damn lies, and statistics. No senator approvingly quoted his state's married same-sex couples or invited white-bread suburban lawnmowing gay men and lesbians to tell the heartbreaking disaster stories about being excluded from full marriage recognition. This time, perhaps no Republican senator was yet willing to urge DOMA's repeal, but only Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) showed up to speak in support of it.

It is so good to see the list of senators who helped our side. DOMA is getting wobbly.