Obama Expects DOMA Ruling 'Soon'

Barack Obama said during a Sept. 28 meeting that he expects a court ruling "soon" on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), an anti-gay law from 1996 that singles out gay and lesbian families for discriminatory treatment by denying them federal recognition of any sort, ThinkProgress reported that same day.

Two federal court cases have already found DOMA to be unconstitutional. The Obama Administration announced earlier this year that it would no longer defend the law in court, where at least ten cases challenge the law, because of Constitutional questions.

House Republicans have vowed to defend the law, and have resorted to using taxpayer money to hire a private lawyer to defend DOMA.

"The legal team that Boehner and the Republicans hired has since come under harsh criticism for arguing that homosexuality is a choice, misrepresenting research, and relying on such experts as ex-gay advocate George Rekers and the National Organization for Marriage's Maggie Gallagher," reported ThinkProgress.

Rekers himself prompted controversy earlier this year when it came to light that the co-founder of anti-gay group the Family Research Council had hired a 20-year-old male escort from RentBoy.com to accompany him on a European vacation. The FRC instantly cut public with Rekers.

Rekers was also identified by CNN in a June 10 article as the therapist who subjected a young boy to treatments to make him less "effeminate" in the 1970s.

As a 5-year-old, Kirk Murphy was taken by his parents to a program at the University of California, Los Angeles, because his mother had grown "concerned" that her son was "playing with dolls and stuff."

The treatment Kirk received was administered by Rekers, who for years afterwards wrote extensively about a subject he referred to as "Kraig," CNN reported.

"Kraig, I think, certainly was Rekers' poster boy for what Rekers was espousing for young children," Jim Burroway told CNN. "We have been wondering where is Kraig? A lot of us have talked about it. Where is he today? Is he married or is he gay? Or specifically does he even know that Rekers has been writing about him?

"I found 17 different articles, books, chapters, that he has written in which he talked about Kraig."

"Rekers' work with Kirk Murphy helped him build a three-decade career as a leading national expert in trying to prevent children from becoming gay, a career as an anti-gay champion that would later be tainted by his involvement in an embarrassing scandal," noted the CNN article.

If Kraig was indeed Rekers' pseudonym for Kirk, the answer to Burroway's question is that Kraig grew up to pursue a 12-year stint in the military before embarking on a career in finance. He was, the CNN account says, successful. But he hanged himself at the age of 38 in a terrible outcome that his family says was the direct result of the treatments to which he was subjected.

Obama's remarks on DOMA came during an "Open for Questions" roundtable, reported ThinkProgress.

"Administratively, we can't ignore the law," Obama noted. But he went on to add, "[E]ven if we enforce it, we don't support it, we think it's unconstitutional."

The article went on to quote the President more extensively on the issue. Obama said that he expected a ruling "fairly soon," and though he added that he could not predict what that ruling might be, he sounded a note of optimism that the law would be consigned to history in much the same was as Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the discriminatory 1993 law that kept openly gay patriots from serving their country until it was repealed on Sept. 20.

"Once that law is struck down--and I don't know what the ruling will be--then addressing these binational issues could flow from that decision potentially," Obama said.

"I can't comment on where the case is going to go," added the president. "I can only say what I believe and that is that DOMA doesn't make sense, it's unfair. I don't think that it meets the demands of our Constitution... I've also said that I'm also supportive of Congress repealing DOMA on its own and not waiting for the courts."

However, the president, noted, gay and lesbian American families could not count on a Republican Congressional majority to make that happen.

"The likelihood of us being able to get the House of Representatives for DOMA repeal is very low at this point," Obama said. "So truthfully, the recourse to the courts is probably going to be the best approach."

Under DOMA, states are allowed to ignore the one civil contract that allows couples of the same gender to assert legal rights and responsibilities on one another's' behalf--marriage. This means that legally married couples can be rendered legal strangers to one another, and even to their children, simply by crossing a state line.

Congressional lawmakers have introduced a bill that would abolish DOMA and extend legal protections to gay and lesbian families across the nation. So far, the bill has not gained traction, though recently a Republican lawmaker joined in supporting it for the first time.