Lynch only member of Massachusetts delegation to not sign DOMA brief

There's no confusion where Ed Markey stands on equality. One member of Congress is kind of conspicuous by his absence among those who signed the Democrats' amicus brief calling for the Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. That would be Rep. Stephen Lynch, candidate to replace Sen. John Kerry, and the only member of the Massachusetts delegation not to sign on.

His excuse is, well, questionable.

Lynch's congressional office indicated that he would have signed the brief if he had known about it, but Democratic leaders were unable to get through to his staff:

'As a result of an e-mail miscommunication, our office was not made aware that the amicus brief was being circulated. Congressman Lynch has long opposed the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and believes that DOMA is unconstitutional. Congressman Lynch has also consistently co-sponsored the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA,' spokeswoman Meaghan Maher said in an e-mailed statement.

In a follow-up tweet, Lynch campaign spokesman Conor Yunits called the e-mail glitch 'convenient given D.C. effort to choose candidate.' Much of the Democratic establishment in Washington threw its support behind Markey in the opening days of the race.

There are 212 members on the brief, including every Massachusetts member and the entire leadership team in both the House and Senate. So Lynch is arguing that he was the only one among almost the entire Democratic caucus to experience this email miscommunication, and that that is evidence that he was the victim of a larger conspiracy to make him look bad. Because of course the Democratic leadership is more interested in his primary race than in seeing this massive miscarriage of justice righted. Uh, huh.

When he was in the state legislature, Lynch opposed gay marriage and domestic partner health insurance benefits, but has improved as a federal representative, getting a score of 90 out of 100 from the Human Rights Campaign. On the other hand, Ed Markey has a 100 percent rating. Markey was also one of just 67 members of the House to vote against the legislation that became law in 1996. Here's Markey's statement on the brief:

"It's long past time to abolish DOMA and send this discriminatory law to the pages of the history books. I voted against DOMA in 1996 and have fought to repeal it ever since. We must ensure that LGBT Americans have the same freedom as any other American to marry and receive the full array of benefits and protections under the law.'

Lynch's absence on this brief, and his excuse-making and conspiracy theories for not being on it, are pretty pathetic. But luckily the Massachusetts voters who care about equality have a very good option in this race.

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