In D.C., A Continuing Fight To Defend Marriage and Voters Rights

• By Alan Sears
• Posted May 11, 2010
• No Comments »

Last fall, Bishop Harry Jackson and seven other registered voters sought through the initiative petition process to reaffirm the only definition of marriage that has ever existed in the District of Columbia – one man and one woman. The Marriage Initiative of 2009 gave District voters the chance to join 31 states in voting “yes” or “no” on this clear, simple language: “Only marriage between a man and a woman shall be valid and recognized in the District of Columbia.”

Unfortunately, the Marriage Initiative of 2009 – and the right of Washington D.C. voters to have a say on the issue – was met with immediate and extensive opposition from officials there who want to redefine marriage regardless of their constituents’ wishes.

Indeed, in December, the D.C. Council enacted their own amendment, which fabricated a right to same-sex “marriage” in the District. Bishop Jackson and others, represented by ADF, again tried to assert the rights of District voters, putting this new legislation to a referendum. Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, though, on March 3, despite extensive legal efforts, same-sex “marriage” licenses became available in D.C.

However, hope remains, as efforts are still underway to place last year’s Marriage Initiative on this year’s ballot. Last week, ADF attorneys argued before the D.C. Court of Appeals that District voters should have a right to decide. With God’s grace, we’ll win and District voters can strengthen marriage for future generations.

“This morning,” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), wrote in a recent Washington Update, “with the support of hundreds of local pastors, Bishop Jackson filled the sidewalks outside the (DC Superior) Court for a ‘Let the People Vote’ rally and press conference, where I spoke with other pro-family leaders. FRC had worked for months with Hill offices trying to get the House and Senate to exercise some oversight on D.C.’s same-sex “marriage” law. But help never came.

“After exhausting almost every legal avenue,” he added, “Bishop Jackson’s coalition sued the D.C. Board of Elections for standing between the people and their right to vote. And although he doesn’t have the City Council’s support, he does have voters’. Nearly six out of 10 said the issue of marriage should be theirs to decide.

“The arguments kicked off this morning,” Perkins wrote. “In an unusual twist that reflected the importance of this case, all nine judges met to hear the suit. FRC’s Peter Sprigg was in the courtroom during the trial. Peter reports that Austin Nimocks of the Alliance Defense Fund was brilliant in his defense of the people’s right to vote– much stronger than the counsel for the District … Interestingly enough, the District’s claim that restoring a traditional definition of marriage would be ‘discrimination’ based on ‘sexual orientation’ was mentioned only in passing. The bottom line is that the D.C. Charter gives the people a right to legislate via initiative – and the Council can’t take that right away from them.”

Please continue to be in prayer for this crucial case, and for all those fighting to defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman.