‘Chris and Hampton’
courtesy of ‘erin m’
The DC Court of Appeals, in a 5-4 verdict (available in PDF), upheld the District’s rejection of a referendum on gay marriage. At stake was the choice of the Board of Elections and Ethics to reject the petitions from Harry Jackson and others to require that gay marriage be put to a vote of the citizens of the District. The BOEE argued, successfully, that to put this on the ballot would be to potentially authorize discrimination in violation of the Human Rights Act. Associate Judge Thompson, writing for the majority, said “we therefore affirm the Superior Court’s rulings that the Council acted lawfully in imposing the Human Rights Act safeguard and that the Board correctly determined that the safeguard required it to reject the proposed initiative.”
Most interesting in the 84-page verdict was the item upon which all nine judges agreed: “the Board correctly determined that the proposed initiative would have the effect of authorizing such discrimination.” While the dissenting judges disagreed regarding the authorities involved in the case, they did accept that a voted prohibition against gay marriage was a wholesale violation of the Human Rights Act. Let that sink in a minute. We’ll have some more detail and reaction later today.
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
The christianist Klan believes they can vote on anything they want because they’re christianists? Somebody has lied to these ridiculous bigots. They need an equality minded leader!
Right back @ ya, Donna – ya bigot!