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Late last week the LGBT community and allies got a holiday gift in the form of another GOP lawmaker signing on to support the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.
On Friday, Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY), a Republican who won office in the big Tea Party sweep of 2010, announced that he is supporting the end of DOMA and the start of the Respect for Marriage.
Read's Hanna's announcement:
“New York State allows all its citizens the freedom to marry the person they love,” he said. “Under the Tenth Amendment, the federal government has a Constitutional responsibility to respect New York’s right to set its own laws. It’s my job to see that it does.
“It is right to extend equal protection under federal law to all couples who are legally married without infringing upon religious freedom and beliefs,” Hanna continued. “This legislation does not tell states who can be married or who must be treated as married, nor does it require any religious institution to violate their own convictions.
“I respect the deeply held beliefs on both sides of this issue,” he said. “The simple fact remains that the federal government has a responsibility to ensure all legally married couples are treated equally under federal law – and this bill would achieve that proper standard.”
Hanna's GOP support follows on the heels of Newt Gingrich's surprising flip-flop to the right side of history last week.
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