The Politico's reporting that Nancy Pelosi helped get Tammy Baldwin's partner on a fact-finding trip to Europe:
Under House guidelines, members of Congress may take their spouses with them on military flights if there is room for them and when it is "necessary for protocol purposes." Although Baldwin, the only openly gay woman elected to Congress, exchanged wedding vows with Lauren Azar in 1998, her home state of Wisconsin does not officially recognize same-sex marriages, and military officials were apparently unwilling to consider Azar a "spouse" within the meaning of the House guidelines.
Pelosi wrote a letter to Defense Sec. Gates to get him to let Azar on the flight. Not the solution to all our problems, but....
Of course, this doesn't really solve all that much, considering DOMA prevents the federal government from recognizing any same-sex marriage for any reason. This is just a specific situation where the Speaker of the House wrote a letter for a highly visible co-worker getting the raw end of this deal.
Either way, it's a step in the right direction. Now how about introducing legislation to repeal DOMA, Nancy?
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3 Comments
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Until DOMA is repealed and we have full marriage rights for same-sex couples, our relationships will still be at the mercy of heterosexuals. They will be able to decide when we are considered family and when we are not. They will be able to decide who gets our social security benefits and pensions after we die. They can decide that our children really aren't ours.
This is a huge part of the reason that the fight for marriage matters.
Michael Crawford | April 2, 2008 9:44 AM
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Interesting side note: The Pentagon is supposed to issue a report on this to the Speaker's office. The military claimed DOMA prevented them from allowing Baldwin's partner on the plane. It wasn't until Pelosi reminded them that Tammy's partner had been able to fly with her partner under Speaker Hastert's leadership that the military relented. Hastert also had to send a letter to the Pentagon though.
Bil Browning | April 2, 2008 10:17 AM
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Gee....maybe someday Pelosi will do the same for me.
I do live in her freaking district, after all.
But alas, I am not a member of Congress so I am not deserving of the treatment, attention or consideration that elected officials receive.
patrick | April 2, 2008 11:18 AM
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