DOJ will meet with gay rights groups about DOMA
by desmoinesdem, Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 06:18:19 PM EDT
Greg Sargent reported today at The Plum Line,
Two prominent gay rights lawyers litigating high-profile cases against the Obama administration tell me that their requests to meet with administration lawyers to discuss the cases were rebuffed [...].In both cases, the lawyers are representing Federal employees whose spouses are being denied protections or benefits under the Defense of Marriage Act.
Less than two hours after that post, Sargent received encouraging news from the DOJ and posted an update:
The Obama Justice Department has reached out to major gay rights organizations and scheduled a private meeting for next week with the groups, in an apparent effort to smooth over tensions in the wake of the controversy over the administration's defense in court of the Defense of Marriage Act. [...]At the meeting -- which hasn't been announced and is expected to include leading gay rights groups like GLAD and Lambda Legal -- both sides are expected to hash out how to proceed with pending DOMA cases.
Though there's no guarantee either side will leave next week's meeting happy, it's encouraging to hear that some dialogue is planned.
Tags: Barack Obama, Defense of Marriage Act, Department of Justice, doma, gay rights, glbt, LGBT (all tags)









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