Freedom to Marry Commends King & Spaulding for Dropping Defense of Discriminatory DOMA

4/25/2011

“Every person deserves a defense, but not every position does.”

Press Contact:
Jackie Yodashkin
Communications Manager, Freedom to Marry
jackie@freedomtomarry.org
917-620-4502

(New York, NY, April 25, 2011) – Below is a statement by Evan Wolfson, Founder and President of Freedom to Marry on today’s announcement by the law firm of King & Spaulding that it would not represent the U.S. House of Representatives in defense of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act”:  

"In America, every person deserves a defense, but not every position does.  King & Spaulding has recognized what President Obama, the Department of Justice, and many members of Congress have joined Freedom to Marry in concluding: federal marriage discrimination and the so-called 'Defense of Marriage Act' are indefensible."

“Freedom to Marry commends the many voices within the firm and outside, including the Human Rights Campaign, who spoke up against the firm’s hasty and wrong-headed decision to take on the defense of discrimination.  DOMA is an odious, oppressive law passed to exclude loving and committed couples from equal respect for their marriages; it cannot be defended without reliance on stereotypes and fears that do not stand up under the Constitution.  The House leaders pushing this abuse of taxpayer money to find a hired gun to defend DOMA should follow King & Spaulding’s lead and reconsider whether they really want to be on the side of unfairness and the wrong side of history.”

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Freedom to Marry is the campaign to win marriage nationwide. We are pursuing our Roadmap to Victory by working to win the freedom to marry in more states, grow the national majority for marriage, and end federal marriage discrimination. We partner with individuals and organizations across the country to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and the protections, responsibilities, and commitment that marriage brings.