[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 137 (Wednesday, November 12, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5920-S5921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LEAHY:
  S. 2919. A bill to amend title 17, United States Code, with respect 
to the definition of ``widow'' and ``widower'', and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, over the past few years we have seen 
remarkable progress in one of the defining civil rights issues of our 
era--ensuring that all lawfully married couples are treated equally 
under the law. In 2011, when I chaired the first Congressional hearing 
to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, only five states, including 
Vermont, recognized same-sex marriage. Following the Supreme Court's 
historic decision last month to not review decisions from several 
circuits

[[Page S5921]]

striking down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional, same-sex 
couples in 35 States and the District of Columbia are, or will soon be, 
able to marry. This is welcome progress. In modern America, no person 
should face discrimination based on the one they love.
  Despite this' tremendous progress, there is still more to be done. As 
I said when the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of 
Marriage Act, ``All couples who are lawfully married under state law, 
including in Vermont, should be entitled to the same Federal 
protections afforded to all other married couples.'' Court challenges 
will continue in the remaining states that do not recognize marriage 
equality. In Congress, there are several steps we can take immediately 
to help ensure our federal laws treat all marriages equally.
  Surprisingly, the Copyright Act, which protects our Nation's diverse 
creative voices, still bears vestiges of discrimination. A provision in 
the Act grants rights to surviving spouses of copyright owners only if 
the marriage is recognized in the owner's state of residence at the 
time he or she dies. This means that a writer who lawfully marries his 
or her partner in Vermont or California is not a ``spouse'' under the 
Copyright Act if they move to Florida, Georgia, or one of the other 
states that do not currently recognize their marriage.
  Congress should close this discriminatory loophole to ensure our 
federal statutes live up to our Nation's promise of equality under the 
law. It is wrong for the federal government to deny benefits or 
privileges to couples who have lawfully wed.
  Today I am introducing the Copyright and Marriage Equality Act in the 
Senate to correct this problem. The bill, a version of which was 
introduced in the House of Representatives by Representatives Derek 
Kilmer, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Jared Polis, amends the Copyright Act 
to look simply at whether a couple is lawfully married--not where a 
married couple happens to live when the copyright owner dies. It will 
ensure that the rights attached to the works of our Nation's gay and 
lesbian authors, musicians, painters, photographers, and other creators 
pass to their widows and widowers. Artists are the creative lifeblood 
of our Nation, and our laws should protect their families equally.
  Statutes like the Copyright Act, or laws governing the Social 
Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs which also 
contain remnants of discrimination, are no place for inequality in our 
country. It is time to fix these outdated laws once and for all. I urge 
the Senate to pass this important piece of legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2919

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Copyright and Marriage 
     Equality Act''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF WIDOW AND WIDOWER IN TITLE 17, UNITED 
                   STATES CODE.

       (a) In General.--Section 101 of title 17, United States 
     Code, is amended by striking the definition of `` `widow' or 
     `widower' '' and inserting the following:
       ``An individual is the `widow' or `widower' of an author if 
     the courts of the State in which the individual and the 
     author were married (or, if the individual and the author 
     were not married in any State but were validly married in 
     another jurisdiction, the courts of any State) would find 
     that the individual and the author were validly married at 
     the time of the author's death, whether or not the spouse has 
     later remarried.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
     shall apply with respect to the death of any author that 
     occurs on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

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