The D.C. elections board ruled Tuesday that a proposed voter initiative to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman violates the Human Rights Act and will therefore not be allowed on the ballot.
Under District law, same-sex marriages validly performed in other jurisdictions are already legal. An initiative that seeks to overturn an existing law by statute might not go forward, the three-member D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics concluded.
“If passed, the Initiative would, in contravention of the [Human Rights Act], strip same-sex couples of the rights and responsibilities of marriages currently recognized in the District,” the board wrote.
This is the second time this year that the elections board has rejected a gay marriage-related voter initiative. The first was a referendum on the District’s same-sex marriage recognition law, adopted by the council in the spring.
Both ballot measures were proposed by the same person: Bishop Harry Jackson of Beltsville’s Hope Christian Church.
Jackson’s Stand4MarriageDC coalition is expected to appeal this most recent decision, just as it did the board’s earlier ruling this year. In that case, D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Retchin rejected the appeal.
“By all means we will absolutely will be appealing this decision,” said Derek McCoy, Hope Christian’s associate pastor and a member of the coalition. “We think it’s a travesty they voted this way and did not give the residents of D.C. the opportunity to vote on the issue.”
In a statement, elections board Chairman Errol Arthur said simply that “the laws of the District of Columbia preclude us from allowing this initiative to move forward.”
“The proposed initiative would have stripped legally married same-sex couples of their vows,” openly gay D.C. Councilman David Catania said in a statement. “…. I am pleased that the Board rejected this effort as an impermissible trespass on the human rights of District residents.”
Gay marriage opponents have said they will take their complaint to Congress if need be. But a Democratic-controlled U.S. legislature has not shown any interest in throwing itself into the District’s gay marriage debate.
The D.C. Council, meanwhile, agreed Tuesday that the first of two votes on a measure legalizing gay marriages in the District will take place on Dec. 1. The final vote is expected before Christmas. Mayor Adrian Fenty has pledged to sign the measure.
“Marriage is a fundamental civil right,” said at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson, whose judiciary committee approved the bill last week.
