WASHINGTON - Proponents of a ballot initiative that would define marriage in D.C. as only between a man and a woman are trying to get the proposition of next year's ballot.

Eight people, led by Bishop Harry Jackson, filed the petition Tuesday with the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics.

"We're going to go the route we have to go to make this thing happen. But we're ready to take it, if necessary, to court," said Bishop Jackson, a Maryland pastor who has been a leader for initiative proponents.

Jackson's group previously tried to hold a referendum on whether D.C. should recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the city. It was a challenge to a bill passed by the D.C. Council in May and signed by Mayor Adrian Fenty.

The elections board in June ruled the referendum would authorize discrimination based on sexual orientation, which is prohibited under D.C.'s Human Rights Act.

Council member David Catania, who plans this fall to introduce legislation legalizing same-sex marriages in D.C., says he expects the elections board to reject this initiative, too.

"He's part of a national agenda, you know, this is how he makes his living," Catania said. "I just don't believe the citizens of our city have the stomach for his kind of intolerance or divisiveness."

But joining the opponents this time is ANC Commissioner Bob King, who says he's gotten signatures of 50 Advisory Neighborhood commissioners calling for a vote.

"This is the most contentious issue of the 21st century," King said. "And the voices of the people should be heard."
Catholic leaders are also calling for a vote.

"Marriage is not something we are free to change," said Rev. Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, who supports a public vote on the matter. "To let everybody speak to this, in democratic society, all the people involved should be heard."

If approved by the city's election board, the initiative would be put on the November 2010 ballot.


 

 Email To Friend