Marriage is not to be a Political issue, marriage is of God and His Word and promises, From the beginning, the Scriptures state that Satan has challenged God and His purpose for marriage.. Satan’s opposition is focused on Independence from God…..Dewey Moede
Archives for February 2011
BOLD CUP OF GOD ON MARRIAGE with Dewey KKIM/KARS DDC
President Obama has instructed the Justice Department to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which has since 1996 allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex partnerships legally recognized in other states.
The announcement was made in a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to congressional leaders in relation to two lawsuits, Pedersen v. OPM and Windsor v. United States, which challenge a section of DOMA that defines marriage for federal purposes as only between one man and one woman.
President Obama believes that section – Section 3 — “is unconstitutional” given the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment (including its equal protection component), Holder wrote, and the president has instructed the Department of Justice to no longer defend the law in those two lawsuits.
President Obama “has made the determination,” Holder wrote, that Section 3 “as applied to same-sex couples who are legally married under state law, violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment.”
DOMA was passed by a Republican House and Senate and signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1996. In application the law means same-sex couples are not afforded the same rights as straight couples when it comes to Social Security benefits, hospital visitation and other rights.
Following presidential precedent, the Obama administration has been defending the law even though President Obama has long opposed it.
But now, “under heightened scrutiny” since the 2nd circuit court asked for the administration to defend its position given lack of precedent, Holder wrote, the government’s ability to defend the law can no longer be made by “advancing hypothetical rationales, independent of the legislative record, as it has done in circuits where precedent mandates application of rational basis review. Instead, the United States can defend Section 3 only by invoking Congress’ actual justifications for the law.”
That legislative record, Holder wrote, “contains discussion and debate that undermines any defense under heightened scrutiny. The record contains numerous expressions reflecting moral disapproval of gays and lesbians and their intimate and family relationships – precisely the kind of stereotype-based thinking and animus the Equal Protection Clause is designed to guard against.”
Chuck Donovan, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation said that “After a series of steps that undermined the legal case for the Defense of Marriage Act, the Obama Administration has apparently decided to drop its mask and publicly switch sides. This action raises the stakes in this litigation even higher, because both portions of DOMA – both the federal definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, as well as the authority of Congress under Article 4 of the Constitution to interpret the Full Faith and Credit Clause to allow states to protect similar definitions – are now at heightened risk.”
Last month, then-White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that “we can’t declare the law unconstitutional…The President believes, as you said, that this is a law that should not exist and should be repealed. But we, at the same time, have to represent the viewpoint of the defendant.” Gibbs said that “given the current makeup of the Congress,” having DOMA repealed would be :inordinately challenging,”
President Obama told Holder that the Executive Branch of the government will continue to enforce Section 3 “consistent with the Executive’s obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, unless and until Congress repeals Section 3 or the judicial branch renders a definitive verdict against the law’s constitutionality. This course of action respects the actions of the prior Congress that enacted DOMA, and it recognizes the judiciary as the final arbiter of the constitutional claims raised.”
In Zanesville, OH, in June 2008, then-candidate Obama said DOMA “was a unnecessary imposition on what had been the traditional rules governing marriage and how states interact on the issues of marriage.”
“This is a monumental decision for the thousands of same-sex couples and their families who want nothing more than the same rights and dignity afforded to other married couples,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals. Congressional leaders must not waste another taxpayer dollar defending this patently unconstitutional law. The federal government has no business picking and choosing which legal marriages they want to recognize. Instead Congress should take this opportunity to wipe the stain of marriage discrimination from our laws.”
-Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller
UPDATE:
A reminder that in June 2009, President Obama’s DOJ began its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act by invoking incest and adults marrying children.
This did not go over particularly well among some of the president’s supporters.
In July 2010, a judge ruled against the Obama administration.
Also in June 2009, the president extended some benefits to same sex partners of federal employees.
At a news conference in December of 2010, shortly after signing into law a repeal of the military’s ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy toward gay servicemembers, I asked the President if it was “intellectually consistent to say that gay and lesbians should be able to fight and die for this country, but they should not be able to marry the people they love?”
Gay marriage, he said, is an issue with which he struggles.
“My feelings about this are constantly evolving,” he said. “I struggle with this. I have friends, I have people who work for me who are in powerful, strong, long-lasting gay or lesbian unions, and they are extraordinary people, and this is something that means a lot to them and they care deeply about.”
future, it seems, is to have his administration stop defending a
federal law that bans recognition of same-sex marriage.
Opinion polls show a steady rise in Americans’ embrace of gay rights,
and young voters solidly back positions their grandparents opposed,
including gay marriage.
“Anybody under the age of 40 doesn’t care, or actively supports it,”
said Steve Elmendorf, a longtime Democratic staffer and lobbyist.
The administration said Wednesday it no longer would defend the
constitutionality of the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as
only between a man and a woman. Attorney General Eric Holder cited
recent shifts in legal thought, not public opinion, in explaining the
decision.
“Much of the legal landscape has changed in the 15 years since
Congress passed” the Defense of Marriage Act, Holder said. He noted
that the Supreme Court has ruled that laws criminalizing homosexual
conduct are unconstitutional and that Congress has repealed the
military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which barred service by
openly gay men and women.
Five or so years ago, Obama’s decision might have touched off fierce
Republican criticisms. But reaction Wednesday was comparatively sparse
and muted from mainstream GOP groups and individuals. Most of the
Republicans weighing a presidential bid were silent, as was Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
One exception was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an evangelical
minister who is considering a second try for the presidency.
“I think it was an absolutely boneheaded political move, and I think
it was a boneheaded policy move,” Huckabee said in an interview. He
said Obama seems to say, “I don’t answer to the voters.”
At least 30 states have held referendums on the issue, Huckabee said,
and “without exception, when the voters decide, they always decide to
affirm marriage” between a man and woman.
Thirty states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.
Same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia. The 1996 law prevents
the federal government from recognizing gay marriages and allows
states to deny recognition of same-sex unions performed elsewhere.
Over the years, Obama has criticized the federal law without fully
supporting gay marriage. White House spokesman Jay Carney said
Wednesday that Obama was still “grappling” with his view on the matter
but had always personally opposed the Defense of Marriage Act as
“unnecessary and unfair.”
Public opinion on gay rights has shifted substantially in recent
years. An October poll by the Pew Research Center found that 42
percent of adults favored same-sex marriage, while 48 percent opposed.
A year earlier, it was 37 percent in favor and 54 percent opposed.
Pluralities of white mainline Protestants and white Catholics favored
same-sex marriage for the first time in the Pew surveys’ history, and
the issue ranked at the bottom of voters’ concerns in the 2010
elections.
So-called millennials – Americans born after 1980 – favor same-sex
marriage by 53 percent to 39 percent. Gen Xers (born 1965 to 1980)
favor gay marriage by a somewhat smaller margin. Slightly more than
half of the baby boomers, born 1946 to 1964, oppose gay marriage, with
38 percent approving.
Even most Republicans under age 45 said same-sex couples should have
the same benefits as opposite-sex couples, according to an Associated
Press-National Constitution Center poll last summer.
“The country’s moving, and it’s moving fast,” Elmendorf said. “No one
has lost an election in the last 10 years” over gay marriage
questions, he said.
Among traditional Democratic voters, blacks are more inclined to
oppose same-sex marriage than are non-blacks. Black voters are Obama’s
most faithful backers, and Democratic strategists said it’s unlikely
the gay marriage issue would peel them away in his 2012 re-election
bid.
Several congressional Republicans criticized Obama’s decision
Wednesday. But most cast it as a matter of misplaced priorities rather
than solely a question of gay marriage.
“While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting
spending, the president will have to explain why he thinks now is the
appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides
the nation,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John
Boehner, R-Ohio.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said Obama cares little about the
Constitution, “but cares deeply about pandering to liberal interest
groups. Traditional marriage is the foundation of America’s culture,
and the president’s refusal to defend marriage undermines our nation’s
strength.”
I appreciate all your prayers for her! Kitty
Is there anything else that we can do for them. I know several prayer chains are praying and will continue. If she wants to be in Albuquerque, we could put her up in our extra room and feed her and her son. I know some people feel funny about strangers offering that kind of help, but we are all sisters and brothers in Christ. (I am sure your email is overloaded with offers to help).
We pray for you always that God will keep you strong as you do His work.
God Bless
Kay Hendrickson
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Prayer…
Prayer is the essence of the Spiritual life without which all ministry loses its meaning. It is the fulfillment of the great commandment to love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind…..To pray is to unite ourselves with Jesus and lift up the whole world through Him to God in a cry of forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, and mercy….Most of all, prayer is the way to become and remain part of Jesus mission to draw all people to the intimacy of God’s love.” by Henri Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life
URGENT PRAYER
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