Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., this week proposed legislation that would change federal law to make it clear that women can be president and that their spouses will not always be men.
The bill from Pocan is aimed at changing a part of the law that calls for prison time for people who threaten the lives of the president or the president’s immediate family.
That part of the law defines a president’s “immediate family” as “the wife of a former President during his lifetime, the widow of a former President until her death or remarriage, and minor children … ”
Pocan says that language assumes all presidents will be men. His bill would replace the word “wife” with “spouse” and replace the word “widow” with “surviving spouse.”
Pocan said the clarification is needed not just because a woman may someday be president, but that an LGBT person might be elected president.
“In 2016, one of the two major party candidates for president was a woman with a husband and in 2020, for the first time in history, we may have more presidential candidates who are women than men, as well as a potential LGBTQ candidate who is married,” Pocan said.
“The U.S. Code should not assume that Presidents will be men or that they will only marry women, especially when describing which people will or will not be protected by federal law,” he added. “While this language may have been accepted when the original law was enacted, it does not reflect the America of today and I look forward to ensuring that federal law recognizes this reality.”
