Gay marriage looms big in 2012

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Amber Weiss (left) and Sharon Papo line up for a marriage license in June 2008 in San Francisco. The Obama administration says it will no longer defend an anti-gay marriage law. | Getty Images

Updated: February 26, 2011 6:06PM

Angry conservatives have vowed to make same-sex marriage a front-burner election issue, nationally and in the states, after the Obama administration announced last week that it will no longer defend the federal law denying recognition to gay married couples.

“The ripple effect nationwide will be to galvanize supporters of marriage,” said staff counsel Jim Campbell of the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal group.

On the federal level, opponents of same-sex marriage urged Republican leaders in the House of Representatives to intervene to defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act against pending court challenges.

“The president has thrown down the gauntlet, challenging Congress,” said Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. “It is incumbent upon the Republican leadership to respond by intervening to defend DOMA, or they will become complicit in the president’s neglect of duty.”

Conservatives said they expect the eventual 2012 GOP presidential nominee to highlight the marriage debate as part of a challenge to Obama, putting the issue on equal footing with the economy.

Gay rights activists welcomed Wednesday’s announcement from the Justice Department, sensing that it would bolster the prospects for same-sex marriage in the courts. Among Democrats in Congress, there was praise for Obama’s decision and talk of proposing legislation to repeal the law.

“I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It was the wrong law then; it is the wrong law now,” said Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) “My own belief is that when two people love each other and enter the contract of marriage, the federal government should honor that.”

On the state level, there were swift repercussions.

In Rhode Island, the Roman Catholic bishop of Providence, Thomas Tobin, said Thursday that his diocese would “redouble its efforts’ to defeat a pending same-sex marriage bill in response to the announcement.

In Iowa, conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats said the decision would invigorate a campaign to repeal the state’s court-ordered same-sex marriage law. “This gives us more credibility than ever with this issue,” said Vander Plaats, who wants to topple the Democratic leadership in the state Senate that is blocking efforts to put a same-sex marriage repeal proposal on the ballot.

In Maryland, the state Senate was debating a bill that would make that state the sixth to legalize same-sex marriage — joining Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Linsey Pecikonis of the gay-rights group Equality Maryland predicted the new Justice Department policy would improve the bill’s prospects.

“It’s a recognition that government is no longer able to defend discrimination,” she said.

In Congress, GOP House leaders gave no immediate indication whether they would intervene to defend the law in the ongoing lawsuits, but they harshly criticized Obama’s decision.

“This is the real politicization of the Justice Department — when the personal views of the president override the government’s duty to defend the law of the land,” said House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas).

Jon Davidson, legal director of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal, questioned whether that would have much impact on the 2012 presidential race.

“People who feel strongly that same-sex couples should not be allowed to marry were not going to vote for President Obama anyway,” he said. AP