by Chuck Colbert
In a win for gay rights advocates, the District of Columbia's Board of Elections and Ethics ruled on Monday, June 15, that it would be improper to hold a referendum on recognition of same-sex marriages in D.C.
The decision means that same-sex couples with valid marriage licenses from states which treat straight and gay couples equally will be recognized as legally married in D. C. as early as next month.
A group of ministers lead by Maryland minister Bishop Harry Jackson organized the effort to seek a referendum on the D.C. Marriage Recognition Act.
The importance of Monday's elections board decision was not lost on Bradley Reichard and Michael Shannon, Massachusetts residents currently residing in the Washington, D.C.
"When we first moved to the District of Columbia, we understood that our civil marriage from Massachusetts would not be recognized," said Reichard. "What we underestimated – especially after living as a married couple for four years – was the exposure we felt by not being protected by civil marriage's full status."
He added, "We're grateful that the D.C. City Council and the elections board acknowledged and respected our basic human and civil rights."
Under the District's elections laws, a referendum cannot appear on the ballot if it violates the city's 1977 Human Rights Act. In its decision, the elections board said the proposed ballot measure would do just that, and "authorize discrimination."
As D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles argued to the board in written testimony last week, "To the extent that the proposed referendum would suspend the Council's action to recognize lawful foreign same-sex marriages on the same terms as lawful foreign heterosexual marriages, the proposed measure would run counter to the letter and spirit of" that act.
The elections board agreed.
"It's a great day for D.C.," said Rick Rosendall, a spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance, an advocacy group.
The elections board decision nudges marriage equality momentum forward, nationally. Currently, six states – Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont – license or are set to begin licensing same-sex marriages.
The District's recognition of same-sex marriage is the first time same-sex marriages will be recognized in the nation's capital and in the south.
"The marriage movement is not just a local issue," said David Crawford, executive director of D.C. for Marriage, a newly forming grassroots gay civil rights advocacy group. Same-sex marriage recognition in the nation's capital holds "symbolic" significanc here and around the world, he said.
Marriage momentum accelerated in the capital on May 5 when the District's city council approved (by a vote of 12 – 1) a bill to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. The next day, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty signed the bill, sending it to Capitol Hill, where its required 30-day congressional review began ticking May 11. Under the District's home rule charter, all laws passed by city council are subject to approval or rejection by the House and Senate.
The elections board decision suggests that only the courts or Congress can derail same-sex marriage recognition.
In the courts, proponents of the referendum have 10 days to seek an order from the D.C. Superior Court to require the board to approve the referendum's content and continue its procedures.
In Congress, there is, so far, no move in the Senate to undo the bill, according to Anthony Coley, an aide to Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). In the House, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) issued a statement last month after the Council vote, saying Congress "should not interfere" with the District's governance.
But there are two bills circulating in the House, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights organization.
One, introduced last month by U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) along with 33 co-sponsors, seeks to "define marriage for all legal purposes in the District of Columbia to consist of the union of one man and one woman."
The second bill is a resolution to formally "disapprove" of the D. C. Council and mayor's decision to recognize same-sex marriages licensed elsewhere. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), the resolution is the first step toward having Congress overturn the District's law.
But HRC's senior public policy advocate, David Stacy, said it would be difficult for same-sex marriage opponents to muster the 218-vote threshold for a "discharge petition" in order to force a vote on the resolution.
"Conventional wisdom is there will not be enough time for a discharge petition," said Hammil. He said opponents could also "try to target the District" later on this summer, through the D. C. "appropriations process," a last ditch effort to stymie full implementation of same-sex marriage recognition by cutting off any funds for it.
Meanwhile, the deadline for Congress to act on the measure – July 7 – is closing in, with same-sex marriage recognition expected to take effect in the District on that day.
