U.S. Senate Rejects Measure to Force D.C. Initiative on Marriage

Court Battle Continues for Right of D.C. Voters to Define Marriage

by Bill May

WASHINGTON, DC, March 25, 2010 --  At around 1:30am last night, the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment offered by Senator Bennett that would suspend the issuance of marriage licenses to same sex couples in D.C. until a referendum or initiative is held.

The amendment was defeated by 36-59. See how the Senate voted below.

The Washington City Council legalized same-sex “marriage” last year. Before the law took effect, a local citizens group submitted petitions to put the definition of marriage on the ballot, as the citizens of Maine and California have done. However, the appointed D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics ruled that under the District’s Human Rights Act, it would be discriminatory to even let citizens vote on such a measure. Stand4MarriageDC, led by Hope Christian Church Senior Pastor, Bishop Harry Jackson, has since been fighting for the rights of the voters through the courts.

Congress, which granted the D.C. citizens the right to initiative could have intervened, but efforts to bring the issue to a vote in the House was sqelched. The procedures in the Senate provided an opportunity for Sen. Robert Bennett, R.-Utah to bring his bill to a vote as an amendment to the healthcare reconciliation bill currently being debated in the Senate.

This vote provided an important opportunity to find out where every Senator stands on protecting marriage between a man and a woman. It is disappointing that the majority would not even let citizens vote on the issue. Every time citizens have had a chance to vote on marriage they have strongly confirmed traditional marriage.

With the exception of the two Republican Senators from Maine (Collins and Snowe) who voted against the amendment, the vote was along party lines. This may be particially because of the power and influence of gay rights advocates within the Democratic party, but increasingly many legislators are tuning out arguments for traditional marriage merely respond in a knee jerk way.

This points to the importance of the Stand with Children project that is geared to change the framing of issues related to marriage and open the possiblity for new coalitions working together to promote traditional marriage. It has taken 40 years to get into this position, so we can not expect to turn it around overnight, but the work has begun with leadership trainings and retreat, and people stepping into local CCG leaderhip positions. So far, this has been limited to California, but with other states facing similar legislation, and the culture shifting as quickly as it is, CCG's program and grassroots leadership model is an important tool for the evangelization of culture across the U.S.

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