Dodging
As mentioned in the previous post, Love Makes a family surveyed Connecticut’s Congressional delegation on marriage equality and DOMA. However, a couple of our Reps weren’t exactly forthcoming:
Rep. DeLauro would not comment specifically on support of marriage equality but responded that she was “comfortable with Connecticut’s law.”
Only Congressman Larson refused to provide a response on marriage equality and DOMA after repeated requests.
Larson followed up with the Courant, and in a post titled “U.S. Rep. John Larson releases his statement on same-sex marriage,” they faithfully transmitted it:
“I am proud that Connecticut has taken a leading role in giving same-sex couples the same rights and recognition as other couples in our state. Connecticut is telling the world that, in our state, if you love each other and are committed to each other you have the right to have your relationship legally recognized. The fight to attain this recognition was not easy and I salute all of the people who worked hard for years to bring it about. I am also a co-sponsor of legislation that would repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and I have signed onto a letter calling on President Obama to instruct the Armed Forces not to initiate any further investigations to determine the sexual orientation of a service member. I support the repeal of Section 3 of DOMA and the extension of benefits to same-sex partners. I applaud President Obama for the first steps he has taken to bring that about.”
Reading through it line by line, it doesn’t appear that he actually gave anything like a position on marriage equality in that statement. As fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, Larson could “salute” the hard work of marriage equality proponents by endorsing marriage equality on the Federal level instead of just pretending.