The District of Columbia apparently is just a few months away from becoming the sixth U.S. jurisdiction to offer same-sex marriages, unless Congress intervenes (and it should). If you operate a D.C. business and don’t believe in the legitimacy of same-sex unions, apparently you’d better hold your nose and do the transaction – or face the wrath of the city government.
Click here to ask your Member of Congress and U.S. Senators to block the district council’s attempt to re-define marriage.
The council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary on Nov. 10 voted 4-1 to approve legislation that would authorize same-sex marriage in the district. The full council is expected to take up the legislation early next month. Since 10 of 13 council members have sponsored the measure, and Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign it. On that timetable, licenses for same-sex marriages would be available sometime next spring.
Assuming the bill passes, the District of Columbia would join Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa and New Hampshire as jurisdictions where same-sex couples could wed (in New Hampshire, such licenses won’t be available until Jan. 1). The district and the state of New York already recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, and California recently passed a law officially recognizing same-sex marriages that took place there in 2008, after the state Supreme Court imposed the practice on the electorate and before the voters corrected the court’s mistake.
Our courageous colleague, Bishop Harry Jackson, had been leading a drive to put a same-sex marriage question on the ballot in the district, but was rebuffed on Nov. 17 when the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics ruled that even voting on the question would be discriminatory. The district has a human-rights law, which the board cited, that forbids public votes that would result in discrimination. Thankfully, Bishop Jackson is undeterred; he filed suit in federal court Nov. 18 to overturn the district board’s decision.
Because the district is a federal territory, the council’s decisions are subject to approval of the Congress. The House and the Senate can – and to our mind should – overrule the expected passage of the same-sex marriage bill, simply because it violates the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which states that marriage in the United States is the union of one man and one woman.
The bill was amended to assure that a church or religious official can decline to perform a same-sex wedding without violating the city’s anti-discrimination laws. Wedding-related businesses? Not so much. Owners of photography studios, catering firms, banquet halls and similar businesses would not have the right to refuse business related to same-sex marriage on moral grounds, as the bill is currently written. Those that do would face charges that they have violated, you guessed it, D.C.’s Human Rights Act.
Incredibly, the D.C. council is about to approve legislation that would dictate to a private business that it does not have the right to decline business based on the owner’s views on a moral issue. Outrageous! Already, the Catholic diocese in the district has said it will end its relationship with the city if the bill is passed in its current form, placing extensive services dealing with adoption, homelessness and health care at risk. What price “progressive” politics?
We hope that in its zeal for becoming a politically collect enclave of tolerance and diversity, the D.C. Council will choose to protect religious liberties in its final bill. Finally, we hope Congress puts a stop to this nonsense before the seat of our national government begins flaunting the federal law that states what marriage is.
Click here to ask your Member of Congress and U.S. Senators to block the district council’s attempt to re-define marriage.
