Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said on Thursday that Americans can thank House Republicans and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for the Supreme Court's ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act.
On Wednesday, the court ruled that DOMA, which barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by states, was unconstitutional. The same day, the court left for dead California's ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, using a legal technicality.
On Thursday, Frank, the first openly gay congressman, proposed that Boehner and the House Republicans' choice to fight for DOMA was the beginning of the end for the anti-gay marriage law.
"Why was the court able to make a decision in one case and not the other? The answer was John Boehner," Frank said in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"If you read page 11 of the opinion of the DOMA case, what Justice Kennedy says is, 'Well, we couldn't decide the other one [the Prop 8 case], but we can decide this one because the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, the Republicans in the House demanding it, made the argument,'" Frank said. "And that allows us to decide it."
When President Barack Obama announced in 2011 that his administration would no longer defend DOMA in court, Boehner and House Republicans stepped in to argue for the law.
"So we can thank John Boehner and the House Republicans for the most pro-gay decision ever," said Frank.
In a statement on Wednesday, Boehner said he was "obviously disappointed in the ruling." His comments echoed a trove of conservatives who spoke out against the DOMA decision.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) accused the Supreme Court of joining a "trend," claiming the rulings undermine "the best interest of children and the best interests of the United States."
(H/T The Hill)
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