(WASHINGTON, July 12, 1996) --- Calling the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by the U.S. House of Representatives an "indecent assault on the dignity of citizens," Odell Huff, president of Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty (GLIL), urged the Senate to block the bill's final approval. "This shows how excessive government intervention erodes the Constitution and strips citizens of their dignity."
"The divorces and infidelities of members of Congress are far more concrete threats to family values than the possibility that gay men and lesbians might form stable, happy families themselves," said Huff. "Isn't it ironic that the chief sponsor of this bill, Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, has been twice divorced and thrice-married? Perhaps he should attend to the log in his own eye before gouging out the specks in the eyes of others."
Huff explained: "When Congressmen and Senators are the parents of children growing up in broken homes, it is the height of hubris for them to interfere in the family lives of millions of hardworking Americans who want nothing more than to be left alone. Why does Congress feel the need to go out of its way to strip American citizens of their rights to privacy?"
"This legislation is clearly unconstitutional," said Huff. "Marriage and family law are the province of the states, not the federal government."
Huff pointed out that "it is a settled matter of constitutional law that Congress may not legislate on such family matters. As long ago as 1890, the Supreme Court ruled in In re Burrus that the whole subject of the domestic relations of husband and wife, parent and child, belongs to the laws of the states, and not to the laws of the United States.'"
Huff noted that this view was upheld even more recently: "Ninety years later, the Court echoed this view in U.S. Association of Journeyman Pension Plan v. Myers: The delicate relationships of husband-wife, parent-child, and family-property relationships are traditionally matters of exclusive state concern. No provision of Article I of the Constitution confers power on Congress to legislate in these sensitive state fields.'"
The implications of the new law are vast, said Huff. "The import of the proposed marriage act is clear: Imagine if Congress announced that henceforth it would recognize only divorces granted according to rules and regulations set forth in Washington -- surely this would be viewed as an unjustifiable usurpation of state power."
Noting that leaders from both government parties have given lip-service to the idea of state and local sovereignty on legislative matters, Huff added that "President Clinton and congressional Republicans seem to support the power of states to write their own laws and want to preserve, protect, and defend' the Tenth Amendment only on uncontroversial issues where a true respect for individual liberty does not matter."
Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty was founded in February 1991 to advance the ideas of economic and personal freedom and individual responsibility. It has members across the United States and in several foreign countries. For more information, visit http://www.glil.org or telephone 202-903-5555.
-30-
This
Page Last Updated on
Saturday, 6 July, 2002 21:18