On the Spot (CNSNews.com) - A sampling of Senate Democrats expressed sharply divergent views yesterday on whether they would support Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) call to "fully repeal" the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which in the wake of this week's California Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage as well as a similar 2003 decision by the high court of Massachusetts, would have the effect of legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she would support Obama's position, while Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Thomas Carper (D-Del.) said they would not. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) expressed surprise that Obama had taken a position in favor of full repeal of DOMA.

The Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, protects states from having to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states. Ordinarily, under the "Full Faith and Credit Clause" of the Constitution, states are required to recognize "the public Acts, Records and judicial Proceedings of every other State."

"Obama also believes we need to fully repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally recognized unions," his campaign Web site says.

Obama has emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee, and California has become the second state where the local Supreme Court has decreed a right to same-sex marriage.

When Cybercast News Service asked Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who has been a vocal supporter of the Obama campaign, if he could support Obama in an attempt to repeal DOMA, Nelson said that he could not. "No. I support the Defense of Marriage Act, period," he said.

Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.) also told Cybercast News Service that he would not support the repeal of DOMA. "I don't believe so," he said. "When I was governor of my state, we passed our own Defense of Marriage Act, which essentially said that while we respect the civil unions of those of the same sex, we believe that marriage is something that occurs and should occur between a man and a woman. That's the law we adopted when I was governor, and I am not anxious to see that pushed aside."

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who is from one of the two states where same-sex marriage has been declared a right, told Cybercast News Service that she was not aware of Obama's call to repeal DOMA. "I have not talked to Sen. Obama about that. I have not heard anything about that," she said. "I did not vote for DOMA in the first place. I voted against it, and I don't know anything about this."

Boxer also asked Cybercast News Service to provide her staff with proof that Obama holds this position. "I would like to see it," she said. "I would be very interested in seeing it. Please provide me with the documentation."

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) also told Cybercast News Service he was unaware of Obama's position on DOMA. "I haven't heard him say that," he said.

Only Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she would support Obama in such a plan. "Yes, I would," she said.

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