I'm not an apologist for Obama, and I'm not at all sure I can view him as a "fierce advocate" of gay rights (or much of anything, sadly). There are a LOT of things I think he could have done or handled differently, but appealing the DADT/DOMA cases isn't on that list. In fact, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has asked to be named a defendant-intervenor in the DOMA case. He believes that the government is actually on our side, and is intentionally throwing these cases in order to get the laws overturned. He wants to be able to defend them in place of the DoJ. That's what happened in California, where the state refused to defend Prop 8. The DoJ's defense in Gill was not what I'd call robust (they called no witnesses), but I still don't think there's any chance that Smith will be granted defendant-intervenor status. Still, remember that there are mechanisms out there to prevent the government from just throwing away laws it doesn't like without having them go through either the legislative or judicial process to remove them.
The sky is not falling. We are not doomed. Do not panic about these (or similar) appeals. That's how the US legal system works. It's long and slow sometimes, but taking shortcuts isn't how to win the day.
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