What Thursday's DOMA Vote Means

By Marc Solomon

Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee vote to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act was an important milestone.

But perhaps even more telling about how far we’ve come was what didn’t happen during the “mark-up.” Not one amendment was offered to try to gut the bill or embarrass supporters.

Freedom to Marry worked with our coalition partners and Judiciary Committee staff to prepare for a myriad of ugly amendments. Yet opposing senators told the committee they were going to offer three amendments, and only one directly related to this bill. And then yesterday morning, they chose not to even offer that.

My theory: Anti-equality lawmakers (unfortunately on this committee, it’s the full slate of Republicans) know that increasingly, it’s unwise and risky to use gay folks, and the freedom to marry, as a political wedge to score points. So they ducked. By contrast, the pro-equality committee Democrats all showed up in person to offer statements, to vote, and to publicize their support. Opponents of the freedom to marry are running away from their opposition, and supporters are highlighting their support.

We have come a long way in a very short time!

Earlier this year, George W. Bush’s lead pollster, Jan Van Lohuizen, and Barack Obama’s lead pollster, Joel Benenson, jointly analyzed polling trends on marriage equality over the past 15 years, which now show solid majority support nationwide. In a nutshell, what it says to electeds: If you are a Democrat, you should support the freedom to marry and highlight that support. And if you are a Republican, you should look carefully at your district and think carefully about your position and about how you talk about marriage and gays, particularly if you intend to have a long career in public office.

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