Eric Schneiderman (Photo: Facebook)

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman took to the airwaves today to denounce the Defense of Marriage Act on legal grounds, arguing that it will be ruled unconstitutional because it "discriminates" against New York State's recognition of same-sex marriages. The high-profile case is set to go before the Supreme Court later this week.

"This is something that, without getting too far into the merits of the case, I think the Supreme Court will strike down," Mr. Schneiderman said this morning on The Brian Lehrer Show. "This is an overreach by the federal government, this is inconsistent with our federalist system and I think this one will definitely fall." 

DOMA, which stipulates that marriage is a legal union between one man and one woman, permits states that have outlawed same-sex marriage to disregard same-sex marriages in other states where they are legal, like New York. Several federal appeals courts have ruled DOMA unconstitutional already and the Obama Administration has asked the Supreme Court to declare a crucial part of DOMA unconstitutional.

Mr. Schneiderman, who filed an amicus brief in support of the case--United States vs. Windsor--further contended that it's "a fairly straight forward case" for the court to evaluate and rule upon.

"[DOMA] discriminates against the states that recognize same sex marriage because it says not only the federal government doesn't have to respect our marriages and provide married couples from New York with all the benefits that every other type of marriage gets; it also says that other states don't necessarily have to respect our marriages," Mr. Schneiderman said. "This really runs against hundreds of years of jurisprudence in which the United States government, Congress, kept its hands out of domestic relations matters and that have always traditionally been a matter for the states. The DOMA case is a fairly straight forward case. It's a matter of overreaching by Congress and overreaching by the federal government into an area that should be committed to the states."

Supporters of LPAC include Glee star Jane Lynch and Laura Ricketts, an Obama supporter who is co-owner of the Chicago Cubs. Ms. Ricketts' father, Joe Ricketts, made waves in May when his anti-PAC super PAC contemplated an effort to take out the president by portraying him as a "metrosexual black Abe Lincoln."

"This year we have seen politicians repeatedly support policies that harm women,” Ms. Lynch said. “It is important to me to elect leaders who care about issues that impact women and their families. That's why I support LPAC."

LPAC Chair and Treasurer Sarah Schmidt said LPAC was inspired by "continued attacks on reproductive freedoms" and "marriage equality" that occurred in the past year.

The lesbian PAC plans to give money to "strong pro-women candidates" who support "ending discriminatory treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and their families," "protecting access to reproductive freedom and quality healthcare" and "furthering social, racial, and economic justice for all Americans." LPAC will be engaging with races on the city, state and federal level.

Jerry Nadler appearing in the "It Gets Better" video. (Photo: YouTube)

Several members of New York City's Congressional delegation released an "It Gets Better" video today in an effort to stop Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender youth from committing suicide. Congressmen Jerry Nadler, Joe Crowley, Ed Towns, Eliot Engel and Jose Serrano and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney all appeared in the video.

All of the members in the Congressional delegation make brief remarks in the video describing recent gains by the gay rights movement and assuring LGBT youth "it gets better." Mr. Serrano recorded his remarks in Spanish. Mr. Nadler finishes the video by reciting the number for the Trevor Project Lifeline, a hotline for suicidal LGBT youth who are seeking help.

The video is part of the "It Gets Better Project," an online initiative started by alt-weekly columnist Dan Savage and his husband in 2010. Several politicians and celebrities have recorded "It Gets Better" videos including President Barack Obama, Lady Gaga and "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe. Mr. Savage's other well-known online political project was "Spreading Santorum," an effort to promote Rick Santorum's last name as a scatological euphemism in Google search results in response to the then Senator's anti-gay comments. We doubt New York City's House members will be making a "Spreading Santorum" video any time soon.

Watch the Congressional "It Gets Better" video below.

Same-sex marriage supporters marching on Washington in 2009. (Photo: Getty)

On Sunday, as Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senator Chuck Schumer and over 400 other guests looked on, Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell married John Banta, his partner of over three decades. For Mr. O’Donnell, the wedding was the culmination of a more-than-four-year fight—which included numerous lawsuits and the introduction of five bills to the State Legislature—that finally resulted in same-sex marriage’s finally being legalized in New York last June.

“I began this battle when Eliot Spitzer was elected governor,” Mr. O’Donnell told The Observer. “I used to wake up every day thinking about how many votes I had or didn’t have. Now it’s like, what do I do now?”

As New York both literally and figuratively moves on from the marriage equality fight, gay rights activists are looking to see same-sex marriage become legal in other states. They also have a whole host of other demands with respect to support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, not to mention workplace discrimination. With the fractious climate in the current American electoral landscape and the unique nature of the gay rights voting bloc, they may have an uphill battle to accomplish these goals.
It’s difficult to quantify the precise number of gay residents in the United States because the census counts only households reporting as same-sex couples. This leaves out single gay people as well as straight gay rights supporters. That being said, the gay rights contingent is still clearly smaller than the blocs supporting religious or racial minority groups. In the most recent census two years ago, the government found each state has an average of just 0.773 percent of households reporting as gay couples.

However many gay citizens there are, unlike other blocs they are not united in terms of class, racial or gender identity. Beyond the marriage issue, there isn’t necessarily a single unifying cause for the gay bloc to get behind.

Kerry Lux Eleveld, a writer who covered the White House for gay magazine The Advocate during the first two years of the Obama administration, pointed out that it is “difficult to speak with authority about the concerns of gay voters because of how diverse they are. It’s not a single set of concerns.”

Despite their relatively small numbers and lack of a single issue, Ms. Eleveld said supporters of gay rights have managed to remain influential by being vocal and politically engaged.

“I think the LGBT voting bloc is a powerful force in many ways,” Ms. Eleveld said. “In terms of voting, as well as pamphleting, canvassing, volunteering and also in terms of donations.”

During the 2008 election, President Obama received nearly $140,000 from organizations associated with gay and lesbian issues. Last May, Politico reported the president’s re-election was “banking on gay donors to make up the cash it’s losing from other groups of wealthy supporters who have been alienated and disappointed” by President Obama’s first term. The president, perhaps mindful of this fact, included 15 gay people on his finance committee compared with just one in 2008. So far in his first term, President Obama has repealed the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, called for the repeal of the federal ban on same-sex marriage and pushed the Office of Personnel Management to rewrite regulations banning discrimination of transgender federal workers.

Though President Obama may be counting on gay voters, many of them don’t seem to feel they can count on him. In June, the president faced large protests from crowds eager to see him do more to promote same-sex marriage outside a fund-raiser for gay supporters in New York.

According to Ms. Eleveld, while President Obama has done a lot to support the concerns of gay rights voters, there’s a lot more that could be done for gay, lesbian and transgender citizens at the federal level.

“The administration, in some cases, has been responsive and has had a good record on LGBT concerns so far, but there’s always more that President Obama and the White House could do,” Ms. Eleveld said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that Obama could help move the conversation forward on marriage equality nationwide, but there’s a very large portion of the lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender community that, their number-one concern heading into the Obama administration was a Fair Employment Act and advancing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. It’s something that really could be advanced now if the president used his executive authority and issued an executive order.”

An executive order barring discrimination against transgender federal workers would be much harder for subsequent administrations to reverse than the Office of Personnel Management’s rewritten regulations. While the gay marriage debate captivated the attention of the American people with celebrity supporters and, according to a Pew Research Center survey released last fall, nearly 46 percent of voters in favor of marriage equality, the issues facing transgender people and the employment discrimination debate are much less widely discussed.

“The vast majority of Americans don’t know that gays and lesbians can still be fired in 29 states because of their sexual orientation and that transgender Americans can get fired in more than 30 states simply for their gender identity without any legal recourse,” Ms. Eleveld said. “I think there’s still a lot of education and awareness that needs to be promoted on behalf of transgender issues.”

Election year politics means President Obama needs to appeal to swing voters and turn red states blue, which may make him even less likely than he’s been in the past to cater to the needs of gay rights supporters. Assemblyman O’Donnell, who said he advises lawmakers in other states considering same-sex marriage law, acknowledged that supporting gay causes can be difficult for politicians.

“I undertook this in the political process, I got some bruises for it,” he said. “Trust me, it wasn’t all smooth sailing, but you can get it accomplished.”

For her part, Ms. Eleveld thinks the president would be wise to lean on gay supporters for his re-election campaign.

“From an electoral standpoint, this is, generally speaking, a very loyal and progressive voting bloc for Democrats, but votes aren’t the only thing that matters. This is a group of people that certainly put in a lot of time and energy into volunteering. … It’s also a group that has donated a lot of money to the Democratic Party,” Ms. Eleveld said. “I think one of the lessons from the 2010 midterms is that you absolutely have to motivate your base in order to fare well at the polls. I don’t think you can go for the middle at the exclusion of your base. That was an absolute problem for the Democrats at the midterms.”

Based on President Obama’s reported reliance on donations from gay and lesbian supporters, this may indeed be his strategy.

Locally, gay rights supporters may have an easier time since, with marriage equality passed here in New York, they’re focused on initiatives for youth that aren’t necessarily specifically gay causes.

Yetta Kurland, a prominent civil rights attorney in Manhattan and vice president of New York’s chapter of the Stonewall Democrats, said she believes the gay bloc in the Empire State needs to “focus on ensuring
proper accomodations for homeless youth” because “a disproportionate number of those children and youth are LGBT.”

Ms. Kurland also said it’s important to launch education initiatives for parents and students to help keep LGBT youth out of shelters. Mr. O’Donnell agrees that a focus on promoting tolerance is crucial.

“Yes, we have an LGBT teenage population that needs a lot of attention and shelters are obviously first and foremost on that list, but bullying has become very, very important. It is those kids who are not gender conformant who are most likely the targets,” he said. “If you can work seriously on reducing the bullying you may be able to prevent some of that homelessness from occurring, you may prevent kids from running away.”

Mr. O’Donnell authored the anti-bullying Dignity for All Students Act in the Assembly, but he said there’s still much more that needs to be done.

“The next step of Dignity will have to be expanding it, because it doesn’t apply to colleges, which I think it should and there’s also the question of cyberbullying,” he said.

Mr. O’Donnell also agrees that parents must be educated to prevent children from becoming runaways because their families are intolerant of their sexuality.

“You hear these tragedies every day where a kid gets thrown in front of a train, or jumps out of a window, or slices themselves up because of what’s happening to their sense of value and worth,” Mr. O’Donnell said. “Even though Dignity was monumental, there’s still more work that needs to be done.”

hwalker@observer.com