Why the Anti-Gay Movement Got Humiliated in the Supreme Court

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http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/why-anti-gay-movement-got-humiliated-supreme-court

It didn’t take long for the empty truth about the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act to be exposed Wednesday, and there was little equality opponents could do. At the Supreme Court hearing, Elena Kagan, the newest justice, read from the House Report from Congress when it passed the law in 1996, which summarized DOMA’s entire legal underpinning: “Congress decided to reflect and honor a collective moral judgment and to express moral disapproval of homosexuality.” According to people in the room, there were gasps and laughter at the so-called “gotcha moment.”

It was a duh moment, but a necessary one. Yes, DOMA’s about discrimination. That disapproval of gay people, not tradition or government uniformity, is at the root of the act is blatantly obvious both to anyone who observed it at the time and to everyone who has changed their Facebook profile photo this week. But it needed to be set out on a national stage, a few feet away from rainbow-festooned children asking what the big deal was. This week, both sides put forward their best cases and it quickly became clear the opposition to equality is based not on law or reason, but bigotry.

Throughout the hearing, the justices focused on issues of standing and administrative law and federalism, apparently looking for a way out. But whether the Court punts or not, it’s already given the country an opportunity to see just how empty and discriminatory the case against marriage equality is, at a moment where opponents have to give it their best shot. Put aside all the diversionary tactics, the crazy theories about marriage being reserved for shotgun weddings for straights, the baseless claim that this is about the children. Even if it’s not in the briefs, their argument boils down to this: Gay people are gross, let’s put off anything suggesting otherwise for as long as we can.

Paul Clement, who was appointed by the House to defend the law President Obama won’t, responded to Kagan, “Sure, the House Report says some things that we are not — we’ve never invoked in trying to defend the statute.” In other words, Clement and the House saw no purchase in trying to defend the, well, original intent of the law.