Obama Applauds Supreme Court’s DOMA Ruling

By Kathy Schiffer

Ave Maria Radio

The President is traveling today.  He’s aboard Air Force One, en route to Africa. 

Edie Windsor
Plaintiff in the DOMA Case

He couldn’t let this pass, though:  He was so “heartened” by today’s Supreme Court ruling negating Section 3 of the Defense Of Marriage Act, that he placed a call from the plane to Edie Windsor, the plaintiff in the court case. 

Aboard Air Force One, the President congratulated Windsor on the victory and told her he was heartened by the decision so that loving, committed couples could enjoy full equality under the law.

Megan Slack
White House blogger

Megan Slack, Deputy Director of Digital Content for the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy, posted the President’s official statement regarding the DOMA decision on the official White House Blog.  Shortly after the decision was released, the President said:

This was discrimination enshrined in law. It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people. The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it. We are a people who declared that we are all created equal – and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. 

This ruling is a victory for couples who have long fought for equal treatment under the law; for children whose parents’ marriages will now be recognized, rightly, as legitimate; for families that, at long last, will get the respect and protection they deserve; and for friends and supporters who have wanted nothing more than to see their loved ones treated fairly and have worked hard to persuade their nation to change for the better. 

So we welcome today’s decision, and I’ve directed the Attorney General to work with other members of my Cabinet to review all relevant federal statutes to ensure this decision, including its implications for Federal benefits and obligations, is implemented swiftly and smoothly.

On an issue as sensitive as this, knowing that Americans hold a wide range of views based on deeply held beliefs, maintaining our nation’s commitment to religious freedom is also vital. How religious institutions define and consecrate marriage has always been up to those institutions. Nothing about this decision – which applies only to civil marriages – changes that.

The laws of our land are catching up to the fundamental truth that millions of Americans hold in our hearts: when all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.

We are free, Mr. President, to abandon the faith which has come down to us from the Apostles.  We are free to violate our consciences.  We are free to disregard the natural law, and to redefine that which God has defined.