Lowlights & Highlights: January 5, 2013

The victims of Hurricane Sandy are still in need. Many people of the New York/New Jersey area are dealing with bitter cold, homelessness, joblessness, etc. A $60 billion aid package has been on the table for months. There is a bill known as the Violence Against Women Act that has been renewed time and time again without incident. The Senate has already dealt with both of these pressing issues. The GOP-led House of Representatives, however, refused to deal with them in the waning hours of the 112th Congress. Now, VAWA is dead (or has to start over entirely) and the Sandy aid package is weeks away from passage. It is probable the 9.7 billion of it will be passed shortly, but that is a relative drop in the bucket for an area hit by a perfect storm.

To top all of this off, here are two things that the House in the 113th Congress (still led by Republicans) did in its opening day. More money has been authorized for the House to defend the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in court. Originally, only 1.5 million was appropriated, later expanded to 2 million, and now it will be expanded even further. It is hypocritical that a party that talks so much about states rights is defending a federal law which subjugates the nine states that have seen fit to recognize full equality. The other issue the House has already introduced is about the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Rep. Michele Bachmann introduced this gem: a bill to repeal Obamacare in its entirety. Here is the kicker: this has already been attempted well over 30 times. It is a measure that, even if it passes in the House, is still dead in the water. The Democrats hold the Senate and President Obama clearly will not sign it.

It is partisan showboating. Instead of helping millions in need in the Northeast and battered women, this is what House Republicans are doing. Jon Huntsman was right, this party is devoid of a soul.

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Building on the momentum of 2012, marriage equality is off to a sprint in 2013. This week, the legislatures of Illinois and Rhode Island both saw marriage equality bills introduced. In Illinois, the measure has already passed out of committee. In both states, it is very likely that these measures can pass out of the legislatures which have Democratic majorities and even supportive Republicans (the Illinois GOP chair endorsed the law) plus both states have governors that have publicly stated their support.

It should be noted that National Organization for Marriage (Discrimination) co-founder Brian Brown has issued a threat to any Illinois Republicans that support the measure. However, a similar threat was issued when New York state took up marriage equality and NOM was less than victorious in both the marriage vote as well as the retribution they promised. Their threats show their desperation.

Also in Minnesota, it was announced that a marriage equality bill would be introduced within the next two months. Governor Mark Dayton supports marriage equality. In Minnesota, this comes on the heals of the state's people voting down a proposed constitutional amendment to restrict marriage rights to only opposite-sex couples.

It is important not to let last year's victories give us inflated egos. 2012 was great, but we have to keep pressing forward and keep working towards full equality nationwide.