Dems Down on Defense of Marriage Act

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom may have been the first to stage a press appearance to support marriage equality, but that trend has now caught on to a degree in the nation's capitol.

New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, along with Colorado's Jared Polis and Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin introduced a bill called the "Respect for Marriage Act" which would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

The DOMA defined marriage as "between a man and a woman," and was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton, a big fan of sacred monogamy.

Nadler pointed out that same-sex marriages condoned by some states "have debunked the baseless myth that their marriages would somehow undermine or destroy the institution of marriage. The sky has not fallen, as our opponents had argued it would."

The bill would not, actually, make same-sex marriages legal on the federal level, it would simply allow individual states to redefine their own marriage laws to allow for greater equality without running afoul of the DOMA.

Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank declined to be among the 90 cosponsors of the bill, arguing that court challenges to the DOMA would probably be more effective in the short term.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to make a repeal of the DOMA a priority, showing how much she cares about the San Franciscans that elect her to congress like clockwork every two years.

Jackson West wishes Commander in Chief Barack Obama would just overturn that other Clinton legacy, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" already.