Obama Administration Statements on the Supreme Court’s DOMA Ruling

Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. In a statement released shortly after the Court’s ruling was announced, President Obama applauded the decision.

This was discrimination enshrined in law. It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people. The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it. We are a people who declared that we are all created equal – and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. 

This ruling is a victory for couples who have long fought for equal treatment under the law; for children whose parents’ marriages will now be recognized, rightly, as legitimate; for families that, at long last, will get the respect and protection they deserve; and for friends and supporters who have wanted nothing more than to see their loved ones treated fairly and have worked hard to persuade their nation to change for the better. 

So we welcome today’s decision, and I’ve directed the Attorney General to work with other members of my Cabinet to review all relevant federal statutes to ensure this decision, including its implications for Federal benefits and obligations, is implemented swiftly and smoothly.

On an issue as sensitive as this, knowing that Americans hold a wide range of views based on deeply held beliefs, maintaining our nation’s commitment to religious freedom is also vital. How religious institutions define and consecrate marriage has always been up to those institutions. Nothing about this decision – which applies only to civil marriages – changes that.

The laws of our land are catching up to the fundamental truth that millions of Americans hold in our hearts: when all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.

A number of Cabinet Secretaries and senior Administration officials also released statements hailing the Court’s decision.

Secretary of State John Kerry

The U.S. Department of State applauds the Supreme Court’s decision striking down an unjust and discriminatory law and increasing freedom and equality for LGBT Americans. 

As a Senator, I voted against DOMA in 1996 and argued that it was unconstitutional.  As Secretary of State, I look forward to the work that now can and must be done to adjust rules and regulations that affect the many married Americans who were hurt by this law.  While I am incredibly proud of the job that the State Department has done in ensuring equal benefits for our employees, there’s more to be done.  To fully implement the requirements and implications of the Court’s decision, we will work with the Department of Justice and other agencies to review all relevant federal statutes as well as the benefits administered by this agency.  We will work to swiftly administer these changes to ensure that every employee and their spouse have access to their due benefits regardless of sexual orientation both at home and abroad.

I am proud of the progress we’re making in this arena, and particularly proud that I work for a President who has helped to lead the way forward.  From Stonewall to the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ despite setbacks along the way, the arc of our history on this issue has bent towards inclusion and equality, perhaps never more so than today.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel

The Department of Defense welcomes the Supreme Court's decision today on the Defense of Marriage Act.  The department will immediately begin the process of implementing the Supreme Court's decision in consultation with the Department of Justice and other executive branch agencies.  The Department of Defense intends to make the same benefits available to all military spouses -- regardless of sexual orientation -- as soon as possible.  That is now the law and it is the right thing to do.

Every person who serves our nation in uniform stepped forward with courage and commitment.  All that matters is their patriotism, their willingness to serve their country, and their qualifications to do so.  Today's ruling helps ensure that all men and women who serve this country can be treated fairly and equally, with the full dignity and respect they so richly.

West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project: Citizen Engagement to Measure and Improve Air Quality

Margaret Gordon is being honored as a Champion of Change for her dedication to increasing public engagement in science and science literacy.

I co-founded, along with Brian Beveridge, the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP), a resident-led, community-based environmental justice organization that has been a strong voice of reason in the West Oakland community over the last decade. Due to the significant truck traffic needed to move goods through the Port of Oakland, which is located in a high population area of West Oakland, outdoor air quality is very poor and has a significant impact on the overall health of community residents.  Using research and data collection as tools, WOEIP advocates for an improved quality of life, as it relates to public health, air quality, land-use and equity development. 

The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project studied a number of factors that have negative impacts on air quality in the community, such as the volume of trucks coming into the neighborhood and illegal dumping, and as a result, community members identified 17 high-priority items for further action.  Results were published in two Community Based Participatory Research reports, "Neighborhood Knowledge for Change" and "Reducing Diesel Pollution in West Oakland". WOEIP uses science research to help convince policymakers that environmental changes are needed to decrease diesel particulate pollution originating from the Port of Oakland.

More recently, WOEIP has partnered with Intel and Common Sense Science to collect air quality data using handheld devices designed by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley Intel Labs.  WOEIP is recruiting neighbors and youth into the ‘Personal Air Monitoring Project,’ a new study that uses these portable sensors to collect both GPS information and data on particulate matter (PM) in air.  By deploying these devices, WOEIP provides hands-on training to affected residents, allowing them to not only participate in problem-solving but also empowering the citizens to realize that they have ownership of the data. "Unlike elevated, rooftop stationary sensors, portable PM loggers record what residents breathe at ground level, near places (i.e. residential areas, schools, and parks) frequently traveled by the elderly and children."   WOEIP’s research results have captured national attention - Congresswoman Barbara Lee and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson visited WOEIP for a presentation on their preliminary results.

We are seeking funding to bring our air quality data-gathering process indoors. We want to engage our local schools in assessing air pollution inside school buildings and use that information to help reduce asthma triggers in the classroom. Our ultimate goal is to empower parents to address indoor air quality issues in the home by helping families understand the structural and behavioral factors that link outdoor and indoor air quality.

Margaret Gordon is Co-founder and Co-director of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (EIP).

Responsibility to Future Generations: Renewable Energy Development on Tribal Lands

Today, the President announced his comprehensive plan to cut the carbon pollution that is changing our climate and affecting public health.  Reducing carbon pollution will keep our air and water clean and safe for our kids and grandkids.  It will also create jobs in the industries of the future as we modernize our power plants to produce cleaner forms of American-made energy that reduce our dependence on foreign oil.  And it will lower home energy bills and begin to slow the effects of climate change.

David Agnew, Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, meets with leaders of the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians and the Moapa Solar Project. (by Eric Lee)

While no single step can reverse the effects of climate change, we need to begin preparing to leave a safe and clean planet to our children.  Last weekend, in the desert northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, I had the privilege of visiting a project that is already working to meet the challenges laid out today in the President's Climate Action Plan.  The intense desert heat and bright sun made it crystal clear to anyone who stepped outside that this location has plenty of solar energy to harness. 

The Moapa Solar Project, on the Moapa River Indian Reservation, is a 350 megawatt solar energy project that will help power over 100,000 homes and generate 400 jobs at peak construction.   The Moapa Paiute tribe has set aside approximately 2,000 acres of their 72,000 acre Reservation for the project, including some acreage to ensure a protected habitat for the endangered desert tortoises living near the project. A commitment to protect their tribal homelands from the effects of existing power sources led this tribe to gain approval from the Secretary of the Interior in 2012 for construction of the first utility-scale solar project on tribal lands.  As part of the President's all-of-the-above energy strategy, the Moapa Solar project will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil while creating good jobs in the heart of Indian Country - jobs that can’t be shipped overseas.