Brody's Notes... Anti-Gay Marriage Law Group In Washington D. C. Commences Ad Campaign

Photo by David Uy               MetroWeekly.com 

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Dec 28 | Opponents of Washington D. C.'s Gay Marriage Law, signed by D. C. Mayor Adrian Fenty on December 18th, and now undergoing the mandatory 30 day congressional review, have escalated their ongoing campaign to defeat the measure.The primary organisation opposed to the measure, Stand For Marriage DC, headed by Bishop Harry Jackson, a minister at the Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland, recently launched an ad campaign in the city on the bus and subway system.

The group's efforts to put a question prohibiting gay marriage on the ballot have been thwarted by the city's Ethics Board, which ruled such a measure would violate the city's Human Rights Act that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. Jackson is appealing the ruling in a Superior Court.

After the bill was signed into law by the Mayor, Jackson renewed his pledge to take the question before the city's voters. 

“Our day is going to come when the people get to vote on this. I think that's what's going to move people – outrage with a sense of urgency,” he said. 

Opponents have also appealed to Congress to intervene. Under Home Rule, Congress has final say in all laws approved by the District. A process that must be completed within 30 legislative days of a bill becoming law. 
Immediately after passage, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the nation's most vociferous opponent of gay marriage, broadcast an appeal to members to contact lawmakers on the issue. 

 “It's up to you and me to force Congress to deal with the issue!,” the organization said in an email to members. Every member of Congress needs to hear from his or her own constituents that this is an urgent civil rights violation taking place in the District of Columbia that requires Congressional attention! Send your message to Congress today.” 

Representative Jason Chaffetz, (R) Utah, renewed his vow to prevent the nation's capital from allowing gay couples to marry. But he acknowledged it will be tough to overturn the newly adopted ordinance. 

 "It's going to be exceptionally difficult because Democrats have us outnumbered by large amounts. Nevertheless, we're going to try." 

Chaffetz sits on a House subcommittee that oversees the district. Congress can revoke D.C. laws within 30 days after they are signed by the mayor.Chaffetz promises to introduce legislation in January. 

 "If it were put up for a vote, traditional marriage would win," he said. It would win with a congressional vote, and it would win with the residents of Washington, D.C." 

In an e-mail response to an inquiry about the Metro bus ad campaign, Stand for Marriage sent back a quote from their website which reads:

"In May, a small group of political appointees voted to deny the citizens a right to vote on whether homosexual "marriages" performed elsewhere would be recognized in the District of Columbia. As a result, the District Council voted to recognize homosexual marriages performed outside of Washington, D.C. without there having been a single public hearing on the issue. Moreover, the Council has stated its intention to raise the bar even higher by allowing such "marriages" to be performed and legally recognized in the District. Such a decision to abandon traditional marriage wholesale will permanently impact D.C. businesses, education, and the family unit, all without the will of the residents being heard. The Defense of Marriage Initiative will protect traditional marriage and preserve its century's old definition as between one man and one woman. If our ballot initiative filing is successful, District residents will be able to vote on preserving traditional marriage in either November 2010 or as part of a special election.This initiative is about allowing the voters of Washington, D.C. their rightful say on the critical issue of traditional marriage. It does nothing to put in jeopardy the numerous domestic partnership laws protecting gay couples."

The LGBT Equality Rights organisation Full Equality Now! DC had opposed the ads in a posting on their web site which read in part:

''The bus is a particularly painful place for these advertisements to be located, as they cannot be avoided. Because of these advertisements, countless LGBT citizens are forced to stare down discrimination as they board the bus to go somewhere or are even passed by an advertisement on the street. The irony is that public buses were the birthplace of another struggle for equality under law not too long ago. For LGBT citizens to have to experience discriminatory messages as they go about their daily life is unacceptable and must be stopped. For this reason, we demand that WMATA remove all advertisements posted by Stand for Marriage DC as soon as is possible.''

This was opposed however by prominent members of the District's LGBT community including some who had fought hard for the passage of the marriage law. They released this statement on the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance website:

''As supporters of civil marriage equality, we also embrace the principle of free speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which makes our own advocacy possible. Indeed, the then-named Gay Activists Alliance thirty years ago won a court battle against WMATA for the right to place educational posters in Metro buses with the message, 'Someone In Your Life Is Gay.' WMATA is a quasi-governmental body and is thus subject to the First Amendment. We, the undersigned, therefore urge you to reject the misguided censorship advocated by Full Equality Now DC."