FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | January 29, 2010

NCLR Urges President Obama to
Stop Defending DOMA

A Statement from NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell

(San Francisco, CA, January 29, 2010) —Today, the Department of Justice once again filed a brief defending the so called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) in
Gill v. Office of Personnel Development, a federal lawsuit challenging Section 3 of DOMA, which excludes same-sex couples from all federal benefits and protections given to heterosexual married couples.

A statement from Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights:

"Once again, President Obama and the Department of Justice missed an opportunity to acknowledge that discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people is wrong. The Justice Department is defending a statute motivated by animus, and continues to advance what we believe are insupportable arguments in defense of DOMA. Never before has the federal government refused to provide benefits to legally married couples, and there is no reason for doing so now. DOMA hurts families and serves no legitimate purpose. It is unconscionable that this Administration continues to defend this blatantly discriminatory law."

The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education.
www.nclrights.org.

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