How can I support Clinton, and still “punish” him for signing the homophobic Defense of Marriage Act?
I don’t know if there is a realistic way to punish him other than writing–and publicizing exactly how you feel and exactly why it is so unjust for the government to deny marital benefits. Obviously, it’s a bias like the ban in some states on interracial marriage that lasted into the 1960’s. As the Human Rights Campaign, Congressman Barney Frank, and many other gay and lesbian leaders have pointed out, however, Dole and the rightwing sponsored DOMA for the express purpose of taking gay support away from Clinton. They knew he couldn’t sign onto a measure that had so little public support unlike the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the first federal gay civil rights statute, which Clinton did support. I think we need to spend the next four years educating and expanding public support, and also chipping away at such non-federal areas as getting health, housing, and insurance for domestic partnership, and the right of same-gender couples to be custodial parents. Here in New York, we also
