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Ed O'Reilly, Progressive Democrat Challenger to Senator John Kerry, Tells 
KnowThyNeighbor That He No Longer Supports the Repeal of the Third Part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) But Now Supports Its Full Repeal Pointing To GLAD Attorney Jennifer Levi As the Reason For His Earlier Gradualist Positioning
BayWindows reporting on the John Kerry Re-Election Challenge by Dem Ed O'Reilly could have been alot better. If KnowThyNeighbor had been asked for comment, BayWindows would have been told that Ed O'Reilly in a series of emails to Co-Director, Aaron Toleos, has stated on February 26, 2008, "For the public record, I am for the repeal of ALL of DOMA."
O'Reilly who is hoping to beat Senator John Kerry in the primary this September also goes on to say, "The legislation (DOMA) was mean spirited and was meant to discriminate against people who are gay. I will not stand for any "class" of people being discriminated against." And, "people who are gay are not "less than" people who are not gay and our laws need to reflect this on every level."
Ed O'Reilly's comments were prompted by KnowThyNeighbor's Aaron Toleos who questioned O'Reilly for his YouTube video and his response to a Progressive Democrats of America questionnaire in which O'Reilly listed "Repealing Section 3 of DOMA" as one of his top issues. Toleos asked of O'Reilly, "Are you really interested in repealing ONLY section three (of DOMA)? That's the Hillary Clinton position and the less progressive position. I am really looking for a candidate that is willing to repeal DOMA completely (the Obama & Edwards position)."
Ed O'Reilly really seems to "get it" regarding LGBT Rights and Equality for All and once he looked at DOMA, he understood that it was a bad piece of anti-gay, anti-American legislation and unequivally now stands for its FULL REPEAL. But why was he first only for the Repeal of Part Three of DOMA, and seeming to be mimicing Hillary Clinton's position--one which confused so many LGBT leaders and pundits at the time?
O'Reilly points to Jennifer Levi at GLAD for allegedly having instructed his campaign to only focus on Section Three of DOMA. In O'Reilly's email to Aaron Toleos he wrote, "After talking with people in the campaign issues group today, the reason we focused on Article 3 was the result of conversations the group had with Jennifer Levi, senior counsel at GLAD and the lawyer involved in the Goodrich decision. She wanted us to focus on Article 3. We believe in solidarity and working as a team and the issues group asked me to only focus on Article 3 as a result of Attorney Levi's request."
Now I have not yet heard from our sources or in the public realm of any definitive reasoning why focus should be solely on Section Three of DOMA as opposed to its Full Repeal. KnowThyNeighbor has heard that there is a silence on many LGBT fronts regarding same-sex marriage until "after" the 2008 Presidential Election, but our community deserves to be told the truth. Is this a tactical maneuver based on the issue at hand, Marriage Equality, and Federal Protections, or is this a way to throw Hillary Clinton a bone on her bid for the White House, the latter being a tactical means of support from the LGBT leadership to allow Clinton to publicly equivocate on a major LGBT issue, marriage, to appeal for and win the votes of those who are not with us on full marriage rights?
We need to get the bottom of this as we are owed answers. There is one thing for sure here, however, aside from politics, maneuvers, tactics, pulling favors, jobs, loyalties, the White House etc... is the LGBT Community and what we are "supposed" to be fighting for. Having a very pro-gay public figure such as Ed O'Reilly in a very public race against Senator John Kerry, making very public statements standing up for the full rights and protections of all of us is a great thing. For him to have allegedly been told to hold back his "full" public support on one of our bigger issues, DOMA, is a very reckless thing. Thank God that KnowThyNeighbor helped Ed O'Reilly to re-think his positioning
LGBT Leaders must stop directly and indirectly telling the members of our community and our staunch supporters that we indeed are a class of "less than" Americans. Aaron Toleos is quoted in the March/April 2008 edition of Spirit Boston magazine in the Hetero Hero feature that "This is the time in history when everybody needs to be pushing forward." And I would like to add that we need to note his choice of words. "Pushing forward" not "shuffling."
Tom Lang, Director
Hillary Clinton is Bad for Gays With Respect to The Defense Of Marriage Act, 
Same-Sex Marriage and Equal Rights, But You Wouldn't Know That From CNN's Website
If I meet one more LGBT who says to me, "Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are EXACTLY the same on Same-Sex Marriage" I think I will just lose it! Yes, Clinton and Obama are both against Same-Sex Marriage but "for" Civil Unions" but they are NOT the "same" on the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA--that reprehensible, bigoted pro-active piece of legislation which was created to give our country permission for the social and political realm to segregate and demonize gay people. Barack Obama wants the FULL repeal of DOMA while Hillary Clinton only wants repeal of the "third part" of DOMA and has yet to acknowledge the fact that DOMA is a bad thing.
This distinction on the repeal of DOMA is a very important and crucial part of the same-sex marriage issue and should be included in CNN's breakdown of issues on its website. Every day when I watch CNN and the CNN internet journalist, Josh Levs, instruct viewers on how to navigate the CNN.com website for the self-acclaimed most "comprehensive" breakdown of candidates and the issues I now suspect that CNN may inadvertently be part of the problem of the confusion of gay and pro-equality voters on the issue of same-sex marriage. And how dangerous Hillary Clinton's views really are.
The Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, was not only a maneuver to stop Federal Marriage Protection of same-sex couples (ie Federal Pensions, Immigration of Partners, Federal Tax benefits, Inheritance, just to name a few) but it was and still remains an assault on the very soul of gay people, our families and our children. To "Defend Marriage" from whom? From what? Answer, from those evil, immoral gays, that's whom! Hillary Clinton should know better. Shame on her!
Tom Lang, Director
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