Obama administration will no longer defend DOMA

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad this has happened.

I think it would have meant a lot more if he had this stance in 2008.

 

Just as a popular refrain (since last fall) has become "Elections have CONSEQUENCES!!!!!" Obama knew that stances taken during elections also have consequences. Which could lead to elections that have more consequences.

 

It would have been a distraction then. It could be now, I dunno. It's a pretty much a non-issue in 5-10 years.

 

That's fine. I just think it's funny that some on here have suggested he's taking a stance on this. If that was the case, he would have been for this when he was trying to get elected.

Everybody knew he was for it, but he didn't have the stones to come out and say that he was for it.

I'm glad DADT is gone and I'm glad they're not arguing against this one.

Now if he wanted to take a real stance it would be sponsor a bill to make same-sex marriage legal. He won't do that though.

 

I hate to say it, but it won't be a non-issue until the baby boomers die out. Most of my friends who are conservatives aren't bothered at all by same-sex marriages, but you can find liberals in their 60s who think it's the worst thing in the world.

I don't think this is a political party issue, I think it's more of an age issue.

 

I believe the demographics (of those against it) skew most toward poor minorities. Could be wrong.

 

I remember my aunt, who is in her 70s, saying she's never met a gay person in her entire life, and my mom just laughs and tells me that the guy who does my aunt's hair is as obviously gay as one can be and talks about his "partner" all the time which goes right over her head and my aunt is a retired high school principal who hasn't voted for a republican since 1984.

I just think it's funny.

 

Where, I wonder, are all the states-rightsers -- the ones who want the federal government to get out of the way and respect decisions made by states -- when things like medical marijuana and gay marriage come up?Why shouldn't federal law recognize a legal contract entered into in one of its 50 states? It runs thoroughly counter to everything the states-rightsers claim to hold dear.

 

For something like this, you need to make a federal law. There's too much room for bullshit otherwise.

 

I used to tell my father, who used to be anti-gay marriage, that I went to school with more openly gay students than he did with black students (and it was true). Being in a blue collar occupation, my pops didn't come in to contact with gays all that often. Then my parents moved, used an openly gay realtor to sell their house, and became good friends with the guy and his partner. It's not like he ever hated gay people -- I don't know anyone he's ever hated personally or otherwise -- but he had never been exposed to any. Now that he has several openly gay friends, his entire mindset has changed on many of the issues facing the LGBT community.

It's been obvious for a long time that laws like DADT, DOMA, etc. were on their last legs. Only those with their heads in the sand could possibly think otherwise.

 

Most young conservative dudes and girls I know that don't carry a bible in their back pocket don't really care about this stuff, but I live in a fairly big city. Most college grads that choose to live in cities tend to be more open-minded from what I've seen in the Deep South. Although most of my educated buddies in the 'burbs, while generally trending more conservative, aren't really repulsed by gay folks either. They just ignore them the same way they ignore indie rock and non-Budweiser drinks.
I'm from a rural area, though, and that's not the case there. It's not so much that they're walking around with pitchforks in the outskirts, but people will say some pretty ridiculous shit. I only hang around a few gay people here, but I feel a little sorry for the ones that come from rural places, where even if their families are ok with they don't really feel too welcome at home. Not that most of them would want to go back home anyway.

 

I feel like I can be an expert on gay marriage's impact on opposite marriage.

I have lived in California as a heterosexual married man when gay marriage was illlegal and no gays were married, then as a heterosexual married man when gay marriage was legal, and now as a heterosexual man when gay marriage is illegal, though the gays that got married when gay marriage was legal are allowed to remain married, they just can't get married again because it's illegal now.

Obviously, my heterosexual marriage has been through a lot out here in California. And yet, I'm still married. It's pretty remarkable. I think all credit goes to my awesome wife. Without her toughness, all those gays getting married for a year or two there would've totally ruined our nuptials.