Obama Offers Gays Too Little, Too Late

(NEWSER) - Gay-rights supporters in and outside of Washington are getting fed up with President Obama’s perceived inaction on their core issues, Politico reports. Obama has been unwilling to back gay marriage, and has yet to fulfill his campaign promise of repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of the same. “Obama is out of step with his party,” one activist said. “He’s out of step with the next generation.” More»

In big shift, feds will no longer defend DOMA in court

(NEWSER) - Big win for gay rights advocates: The Obama administration has concluded that the Defense of Marriage Act—the law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage—is unconstitutional and won't defend it in court anymore, reports NPR . The president gave the Justice Department its new marching orders today, and Eric Holder says he agrees with the decision. ( Click for his statement.) More»

Will be able to take time off to care for sick kids

(NEWSER) - President Obama intends to give gay workers the explicit right to take family and medical leave to care for a partner’s sick child—even if they have no legal relationship with that child. The Labor Department will issue a formal opinion tomorrow saying that the 1993 law that grants family medical leave applies to gay couples, because it explicitly applies to “a person standing in loco parentis,” the New York Times reports. More»

Charles Krauthammer: If it's a civil right, how can he let states deny it?

(NEWSER) - Charles Krauthammer sees a "howling contradiction" in President Obama's new position on gay marriage. It's one thing to have "empathy" for the cause, he writes in the Washington Post , to feel badly for gay friends and acquaintances who can't legally marry. It's quite another to call it the next logical step in the civil rights battle, as the president did. If gay marriage is, in fact, a civil right, how can Obama abide any state denying it? More»

He says it's unconstitutional, orders administration to cease enforcing it

(NEWSER) - A federal judge has declared the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, ordering the federal government to provide health benefits to the wife of a lesbian court employee. It's the first ruling to come down on DOMA since the Obama administration decided to stop defending it in court , the LA Times points out. The law has instead been defended by the House 's Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group—which, despite its name, is predominantly conservative. More»