by Mark Silva,The Swamp
Gay rights groups want Obama to overturn D.O.M.A
The Obama White House is facing no small amount of pressure from the gay and lesbian community to make good on campaign promises of ensuring equal rights –including repeal of that “Don’t Ask,Don’t Tell”policy for the military.
While the president is taking his time on the sensitive matter of accommodating different lifestyles within the military,that is not the only issue on the table.
Chicago’s Rep. Mike Quigley,who was elected in March to fill the vacant seat of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel,is pressing the White House to include same-sex marriages in the Census count of the married and the single,the black and the white,the Hispanic and Asian,that will be conducted in 2010.
As growing yet still small numbers of states –Iowa and much of New England for now –accept same-sex couples for matrimony –Quigley and allies insist that the Census should count them all.
The concern is that the Census will see the federal Defense of Marriage Act as prohibiting agencies from tabulating and reporting data on same-sex marriages.