Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1996 17:43:49 -0400
From: LLDEFNY@aol.com
Subject: House votes 342-67 in favor of anti-gay, anti-marriage bill

LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 12, 1996

Press Contact:  Peg Byron (212) 995-9475
                Evan Wolfson (212) 955-8986

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Harshly Critical
of House Vote on so-called  Defense of Marriage' Act

House votes 342-67 in favor of anti-gay, anti-marriage bill

(NEW YORK, July 12, 1996)   Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund harshly
criticized today's U.S. House of Representatives' approval of the so-called
 Defense of Marriage' Act, which Lambda said is unconstitutional and is
really an attack on the institution of marriage, on the equality of all
Americans, and especially on lesbians and gay men.

Kevin Cathcart, executive director of the country's leading gay legal
organization, said, "The so-called  Defense of Marriage' Act is retro
legislation.  This bill would take us back to the ugly days, just 30 years
ago, when similar laws said you could not marry someone of the  wrong' race.
 Now, Congress would have the government tell us you cannot marry someone of
the  wrong' sex."

Cathcart said the bill's sponsors seem intent on "dehumanizing gay
relationships with a federal law that would carve out a discriminatory
exception from the U.S. Constitution for lesbians and gay men." He added,
"Congress should heed the United States Supreme Court's recent ruling in
Romer v. Evans that the government cannot use popular prejudice as a reason
to single out gay people for discrimination."

Evan Wolfson, director of Lambda's Marriage Project, said, "DOMA is really an
attack on marriage, on the Constitution, and on lesbians and gay men.  This
attack bill sticks federal lawmakers for the first time in history into the
marriage arena, grabbing state powers and defining what couples have  good'
marriages and what couples have  bad' marriages.  Under the proposed caste
system,  bad' marriages would initially be for gay couples who years from now
might be able to marry in at least one state."  Wolfson asked, "What
categories of couples will be next -- second marriages?  Childless marriages?
 Welfare families with  too many' children?"

Gay couples currently are denied the fundamental freedom to marry throughout
the country.  Lambda is co-counsel with Honolulu lawyer Dan Foley in a Hawaii
case that could allow civil marriage licenses for gay couples by 1998.
 Lambda also is part of the national Freedom to Marry Coalition, which
includes most national and state lesbian and gay organizations, as well as
non-gay and religious groups.

Lambda is the oldest and largest legal organization dedicated to the civil
rights of lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS.  With headquarters in
New York City, it has regional offices in Chicago and Los Angeles and will
open an Atlanta office in 1997.

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