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Gay marriage in DC—is it a civil right or a moral one?
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AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin Gay Rights Demonstration
In Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and Maine, marriages for same-sex couples are legal and currently performed. In the July General Convention in Anaheim,California, the Episcopal Church decided to allow churches to bless gay marriages. So it is no surprise that Washington is now studying the issue.
A religious service will was held tonight at Asbury United Methodist Church in DC to show support for same-sex marriage. The last months have shown both support and opposition to legalizing same-sex marriage in the nation’s capital. The service is being hosted by a group called Clergy United for Marriage Equality who have created the Declaration of Religious Support for Marriage Equality signed by nearly 200 clergy members.
We are District of Columbia clergy and religious leaders of many faiths, races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. We represent religious institutions in every ward in the District. We have worked together over many years for peace and justice and now join our voices again to speak a faithful word for freedom and equality.
Dennis W. Wiley, a straight, black Baptist minister from east of the Anacostia River, and Robert M. Hardies, a gay, white Unitarian minister from Columbia Heights wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post last week. They wrote:
Opponents of marriage equality would like us to believe that one cannot be both pro-God and pro-gay. Yet we lead a coalition of nearly 200 D.C. clergy who support marriage equality precisely because of our commitment to God's inclusive love and justice. Our clergy are black, white, Latino and from every ward in the District. We are Baptists and Jews, Catholics and Methodists, who have worked side by side for years on issues ranging from peace to affordable housing, and who now stand together again to raise a faithful voice for justice. Let us be clear: God vs. gay is a myth we reject. God vs. injustice is a truth we affirm.
On October 24th, the DC city council met with both the proponents and opponents of the gay marriage issue. Opponents fought for the citizens to vote on the legalization because it was a moral issue, but city leaders rejected the idea, claiming that this was a civil rights matter and did not require a ballot vote.
Opponents will turn to the courts for support next. Bishop Harry Jackson, chairman of Stand4Marriage DC, said he thought God would "do a miracle" by changing the minds of council members who support gay marriage.
Last Sunday, hundreds of people in Washington, D.C. rallied for same-sex marriage.
In spite of the fight to make same-sex marriage illegal, at least 27 Washington Episcopal clergy members have signed the Declaration.
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