D.C. Archbishop Signs On to Push Marriage Vote
Tim Craig kinda buried the lede in his D.C. Wire report on the fresh effort to bring same-sex marriage to the ballot.
Yes, Bishop Harry Jackson and the usual suspects filed new papers to day to hold a vote on making "only marriage between a man and a woman...valid and recognized in the District of Columbia."
But then there's this: The Archdiocese of Washington "also submitted a letter to the elections board today calling for a referendum. Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl even sent a letter to 300 Catholic priests asking them to get behind the effort."
"It is ironic that at the same time the city is asking for voting representation in the U.S. Congress, its leaders are denying residents the opportunity to participate in the Democratic process for an issue with widespread implications for children and families," sais a statement from Wuerl from Ronald Jackson, executive director of the D.C. Catholic Conference, an organ of the archdiocese.
3:53 pm
God, the idiocy of hatred.
No, you bigot (the church, not you Mike). There is no irony in demanding representation and accepting the vote of duly elected representatives. That's how f*cking representative democracies work! Nobody says the Defense of Marriage Act is invalid because they didn't send it out for a nationwide referendum. And nobody calls the Civil Rights Act invalid for similar reasons. If you don't like it, vote out the Councilmembers who vote for it. That's our form of democracy. And if you don't like that your bigoted referendum can't make it to the ballot because it violates the Human Rights Act, demand the law be changed.
Again, that's how representative democracy works. No irony there. The only irony is in having an autocratic organization like the Catholic Church lecturing us on the meaning of democracy.
9:02 am
Mike, in the second paragraph, I am reasonably sure that you meant "today" and not "to day".
Has anyone been able to find out why Rev. Jackson thinks that banning same-sex marriages is suddenly not a violation of the Human Rights Act phibited by the initiative law? Most of the referendum supporters testified before the BOEE that they were trying to discriminate and why they thought that would be a good thing.
This appears to be nothing more than a way to raise money and increase the notoriety of Jackson and the right-wing hate groups that fund him.
9:32 am
BobinDC,
You ask why Rev. Jackson thinks that banning same-sex marriages is suddenly not a violation of the Human Rights Act phibited by the initiative law?
The bishop uses that same old tired, defeated argument that gays choose to be gay. And since it's a choice, then gays are not a recognized minority, gays are misdirected straight people with a chosen lifestyle.
So yes, the bishop is a bigot.
The bishop has a long history of gay bashing, marriage is really not the issue with him.