Washington, D.C. – Concerned Women for America (CWA) filed an amicus brief in support of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the First Circuit Court of Appeals regarding The Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The brief exposes the flood of legislative advances by the homosexual movement, which nullify homosexual activists’ claim of being “politically powerless.” This assertion of political powerlessness led to their claim for “strict scrutiny” of DOMA.
Concerned Women for America’s brief lays out the extensive political support that interest groups described as “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender” have amassed, as well as their broad range of political assets, access to lawmakers, financial resources, and media support.
A previous Supreme Court decision (City of Cleburne, v. Cleburne Living Center 473 U.S. 432, 445 (1985)) made clear that only groups lacking the ability to “attract the attention of the lawmakers” are entitled to heightened scrutiny. Homosexuals and lesbians plainly have the ability to attract the attention of lawmakers, and thus are not politically powerless. Accordingly, they do not merit the extraordinary exemption from the democratic process that they are demanding.
For federal purposes, the Defense of Marriage Act defends the constitutionality of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In this case, Massachusetts is demanding that its laws on marriage, which allow same-sex “marriage,” replace the federal definition of marriage in order to allow homosexuals to obtain federal benefits.
Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America, commented: “This brief is a devastating blow to the claim that homosexual activists are victims and politically impotent and therefore need the courts to impose their will through judicial fiat.”