rights Barrow voted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," and he voted for the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. He supported conferring marriage benefits to same sex couples by means of civil unions but was opposed to gay marriage. During his first campaign he was accused of flip-flopping on the issue of a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same sex marriage, but he defended his position by explaining that the amendment he opposed would have prevented states from recognizing civil unions while the amendment he supported would have allowed states to recognize civil unions. He voted to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed states to recognize same-sex marriages but also allowed states to refuse to recognize same sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. Abortion Barrow's voting record on abortion is mixed. In 2007, Barrow received a 100% approval rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, a pro-choice group, and also received a 0% approval rating from the National Right to Life Committee, a pro-Life organization. However, in 2006, he received only a 35% approval rating from NARAL, and in November 2009, he voted to allow insurance plans to offer abortion coverage, as long as it wasn't subsidized by the government. Stimulus spending Barrow voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He was one of 44 Democrats in the House to vote against the American Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as the cap and trade bill. Intellectual property In 2011, Rep. Barrow became a co-sponsor of Bill H.R.3261 otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act. References External links |- |- |- |- 1955 births 21st-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia (U.S. state) city council members Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers Harvard Law School alumni Living people Politicians from Athens, Georgia University of Georgia alumni