HRC Blog

Bloomberg, Quinn Stand against DOMA

June 22, 2012 by Dan Rafter, Online Campaigns Manager

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn are joining together against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The two are planning to file an amicus brief in support of Edith Windsor’s ongoing DOMA challenge, according to the Advocate.

The pair made the announcement at the mayor’s LGBT Pride Month reception earlier this week. Bloomberg said of DOMA: “We believe that DOMA is unconstitutional because it deprives married gay New Yorkers of equal protection of the laws, and we are filing a brief to support the case against it.”

The discriminatory law has faced a string of recent defeats in federal courts. The specific case Bloomberg and Quinn are filing an amicus brief in involves a widow who was forced to pay the federal government $363,000 in taxes on the estate of her deceased wife – all because DOMA prevents the government from recognizing them as legally married.

Both Bloomberg and Quinn were central figures in advocating for marriage equality in New York last year. Bloomberg was one of many prominent figures in New York who participated in HRC’s New Yorkers for Marriage Equality video campaign. Quinn – the leading contender in the city’s 2013 mayoral race – also advocated tirelessly.