Obama’s stance on Marriage Act ‘medium to small’ victory

When the Obama administration announced Wednesday that it would not enforce a law limiting… When the Obama administration announced Wednesday that it would not enforce a law limiting marriage rights to a man and a woman, the decision elicited strong feelings from students both for and against gay marriage.

The Defense of Marriage Act limits federal recognition of marriage to only the legal union between a man and a woman, and therefore limits same-sex couples’ federal marriage benefits. Although many members of the LGBTQ community hail Obama’s announcement as a significant victory, for some college students, the decision’s immediate impact seems less momentous. Other students disagree; they don’t see the decision as a victory.

James Weaver, president of Pitt’s Rainbow Alliance, said he saw the announcement as “medium to small” victory for the LGBTQ community, although it has the potential to become more significant.

“It’s maybe 20 or 30 years down the road or longer, but eventually I think it’s going to be like the race issues in the ’60s where people will look back on it and go, ‘That was stupid. Why did we ever ban that?’” he said.

After examination, the president said that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, when applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law, violates equal protection rights. The controversial section defines “marriage” as only a union between a man and a woman.

The Obama administration also said it will not defend the law in relation to two lawsuits raised in federal courts by same-sex couples from New York and Connecticut.

Tricia Dougherty, Political Action Chair of Rainbow Alliance, said the decision is monumental for the LGBTQ community, but has less impact on the average Pitt student.

“Usually before things with marriage happen, things happen with non-discrimination laws and stuff like that because those are a little bit less controversial. So I think that for the president to go ahead and even be talking about marriage, it’s a big step forward,” Dougherty said.

Dougherty said marriage is far enough away for most college students that the decision doesn’t practically apply. Also, most college students are part of a younger demographic that is often considered apathetic toward many political issues, and even the politically savvy might not be invested in an issue like marriage, she said.

“We’re in that age group where marriage doesn’t really apply to anyone,” she said.

Though same-sex marriage is an issue that Rainbow Alliance addresses, it’s not at the forefront of issues the group hopes to take up.

“We address it, but as far as us being an activist group, we try to focus more on stuff we can change on campus because there’s a lot of policies and stuff that can be improved at Pitt and we have a lot more power over that,” Weaver said.

Weaver said that while he doesn’t believe that students on campus will be greatly affected by this development, it’s still a step forward for the LGBTQ community. Although the community has had other recent victories, such as the planned repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” legal advancements alone won’t change discriminatory opinion.

“People’s opinions aren’t going to change because laws change. It takes them being educated, which is a big part of what Rainbow tries to do,” Weaver said.

Although Obama has previously said he’s opposed to the Defense of Marriage Act, his announcement yesterday solidified this stance.

“For a long time, President Obama has been supporting the LGBTQ community with word but not with as much action as people would have liked,” Dougherty said.

Although some students welcome the administration’s stance, the executive decision raised concerns for others.

Matthew Vermeire, a junior and the current president of Pitt College Republicans, said the stance sets a “dangerous standard in terms of executive power expansion.”

“Using [the presidential veto] retroactively for past legislation and presidents threatens the checks and balances of our democratic republic,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Jarrod Interval, a Pitt freshman, said he isn’t a supporter of same-sex marriage and believes the issue is of little substance.

“I think it gets blown up a little too much,” he said. “There are things of greater concern to [the government].”

Vermeire agreed.

“Although social issues remain important to many Republicans, a large general consensus remains that, given unemployment and slow fiscal deficits, getting our economy back on track and balancing the budget are priorities,” he wrote.

Eric Dykstra, a Pitt senior, said that he doesn’t regularly follow current political events, but because college has given him a chance to become friends with members of the LGBTQ community, the announcement was good news to him.

“I’ve gotten to know a lot of people that are gay or lesbian [in college], and I’m all for their rights,” he said.