Vice President Joe Biden gave an interview today and touched on the issue of marriage. I don't think anyone expected news to be made and I don't think he was expected to differ from the president. Apparently he has:
Vice President Joe Biden suggested Friday that it's just a matter of time before same-sex marriage is legal in all US states.
"I think the country is evolving," Biden told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "I think there's an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage."
I sincerely hope that he is not asked to walk that back by anyone, and that it's not considered one of his infamous "gaffes".
We've been trying to get the administration to change their minds on marriage for a long time, obviously. President Obama has indicated that he's evolving on the issue and wrestling with it. According to The Advocate in a recent article, he says he's willing to open up the lines of communication on it.
He hasn't been willing to take the leap and admit it's going to happen (and, frankly, with or without the administration - they can be on the right side of history or not, whatever - it would just be a great affirmation of LGBT people's humanity if this administration were willing to say that we should be allowed to marry each other like everyone else. Like it or not, the government's sentiment on a class of people can either validate them or aid in their further persecution. People see that the government doesn't even want to protect us or claim us as real people, so why not abuse and kill us? No one's paying attention.
So it is important to get the president and his administration onboard marriage equality, whether we do it without him or not. This is one area in which I would be happy if all he did was say he was "for" marriage and didn't physically exert efforts at the federal level (beyond rethinking DOMA and working on federal benefits.) And on that note:
"I think the country's evolving," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America.:" And I think you're going to see, you know, the next effort is probably going to be to deal with so-called DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act). He said he agreed with Obama that his position in gay marriage is "evolving."
I hope this is not just speculation and they are considering new ways to end DOMA. On a legislative level, I'd rather have ENDA next, but we realistically won't get any gay rights legislation out of Congress for the next two years. So, since DOMA involves the DOJ and court decisions and strategy, I'm sure quite a few options are on the table right now.
It is important to note, though, that ending DOMA won't allow or affirm marriage equality. What DOMA does is restrict the federal definition of marriage as between a man and a woman and changes the federal definition of spouse and I think a couple other words. So ending it would allow citizens in states that permit marriage equality to have access to the federal rights associated with marriage. In short, it would make already existing marriages more equal to their heterosexual counterparts. There's still a lot of work to do.
These are bizarre and interesting claims from VP Biden. One wonders if it's a signal that the administration is shifting and taking LGBT rights seriously, finally.