The Democrats have apparently dropped the repeal of DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) as one of their civil rights goals according to the Democratic Party’s new “civil rights” section of its website. The new set of commitments read as follows:

• Strengthening the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to better protect voting rights;

• Enacting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which includes measures prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity;

• Ensuring full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples;

• Repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security;

• Ending racial, ethnic, and religious profiling; and

• Building a fair and more equitable criminal justice system that provides non-violent offenders a second chance at a rehabilitated life.

So the Democrats no longer want to repeal DOMA. And they are no longer talking about a full and total repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, now they only speak obliquely of repealing DADT in a “sensible way.” But at least they want to enshrine gay people’s second class status as citizens by supporting so-called ‘separate but equal” civil-unions instead of equal marriage rights – except that there were several opportunities for politicians to show some “fierce advocacy” for civil unions in several state battles on the issue of marriage equality, and yet, they stayed silent. That sure is some change you can believe in, isn’t it? (via Towleroad)