Pete's BLOG-Day 26,518. DOMA - why was it passed in 1996?

Today is Thursday, June 27, 2013. My stats today: 10 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes on the ball and 46 minutes of walking = 2.5 miles for a June total of 53.5 miles. My weight was 162.4 pounds.

QUOTE from a DJ at an Irish wedding reception: "Would all married men please stand next to the one person who has made your life worth living." - The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

My THOUGHTS today have to do with the Supreme Court and their DOMA decision.

We all know that yesterday the Supreme Court decided DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act of 1996) was ruled unconstitutional and violated equal protection rights. The ruling will allow couples in 13 states and Wash. D.C., where same-sex marriage is legal, to receive federal benefits such as Social Security survivor benefits and certain federal tax deductions. The federal government can no longer deny the equal benefits and protections of its laws to legally married same-sex couple in these 13 states. But the other 37 can do what they want in regard to same-sex couples.

Being a historian I'm always interested in why things happen. The question in my mind was why was DOMA passed in the first place and why did President Clinton sign it into law in 1996. I heard the answer the last night when I heard Barney Frank (the retired gay congressman from Mass.) explain why.

Barney said that 1996 was a presidential election year and Bob Dole was going to run for President on the Republican ticket. As Senate Majority Leader Dole had the idea if he could get DOMA through Congress he would have Clinton and the Democratic Party in a box and it would help him beat Clinton in the general election. Especially if Clinton vetoed it and many of the Democrats voted against it. Well, it turned out that most of the Democrats voted for it and Clinton signed it into law.

Clinton was no dummy and he was a master politician. He knew if he vetoed it that Dole and Republican candidates would use it as "wedge" issue and possibly cause his defeat in the election. Plus, the U.S. was a different country in 1996 than it is today - much less tolerant or understanding of people who are different. As we know Clinton went on to win big. Dole's strategy backfired.

So DOMA was a political move that didn't work. Thank God it only took 17 years to get rid of it.