D.C. Mayor Signs "Same-Sex" Marriage Bill

Special Report - December 21, 2009
The mayor of Washington, D.C. has signed a bill to legalize the recognition of same-sex “marriages” in the District of Columbia. The city council passed the bill 11–2 on December 15, and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty made good on his commitment to sign it on December 18. Ten of the District’s 13 council members sponsored the legislation. Laws for Washington, D.C. are subject to Congressional oversight, which means that Congress could veto the bill within 30 (in-session) days of its passage. Without such a veto, marriage licenses are expected to be available to same-sex couples in D.C. in March 2010.

Washington, D.C. has allowed domestic partner benefits since 1992. Challenges to this bill and efforts to call a referendum on it were rejected by the Board of Elections, which ruled that the issue is not subject to referendum because it falls under the city’s Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination against homosexuals. The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian civil-liberties organization, is representing several citizens and clergy in challenging that ruling in court.

Same-sex “marriage” is currently legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont. New Hampshire will begin issuing marriage licenses in January 2010. Voters in 31 states, most recently Maine in 2009 and California in 2008, have rejected recognizing same-sex “marriages.” Thirty of those states have passed Marriage Protection Amendments. North Carolina remains the sole Southern state to not offer citizens the opportunity to consider such an amendment.

“Congress has an opportunity to do what the government of D.C. did not do—represent the majority of their citizens by rejecting this attempt to redefine a foundational institution of society,” said Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council. “Every state that has allowed the people, rather than government bureaucrats, to make the decision on whether to redefine marriage has heard the same answer loud and clear—marriage is only the union of one man and one woman.”

Brooks added, “It is time for the North Carolina legislature to stop stalling and allow the people of this state the opportunity to vote on a Marriage Protection Amendment before change is foisted upon us with little chance for recourse, as we are seeing in D.C.”

Copyright © 2009. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.