“Democracy” means something different when we’re talking about DC:
Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, appealed that ruling to Superior Court. Last week, 39 members of Congress filed a brief in support of Jackson’s appeal, arguing that the election board overstepped its authority in denying a public vote on whether marriage should be defined as a being between a man and a woman.
So, this is the situation: there is a bill which will extend marriage rights for people who live in DC. That bill was passed by democratically elected council members who represent DC, and signed by the democratically elected mayor of DC. The people trying to fuck with the bill are a pastor from Beltsville, which is in Maryland (hangs head in shame) and therefore not DC, and 39 Congressfolk who do not represent DC. The DC Board of Elections and Ethics says, TWICE, that they can’t fuck with the bill. A judge who serves the people of DC says they can’t fuck with the bill. So these people coming from everywhere except DC keep on saying, “We wanna fuck with the bill!”
Sorry, what’s that about marriage equality being undemocratic, again? What’s that about “judicial activism”? Does “the will of the people” now mean letting elected officials make decisions for people they don’t represent, and whose interests are therefore of no consequence to them?
All that said, I can see where Bishop Harry Jackson is coming from. Beltsville isn’t in DC, but it’s not far away, either. A very large share of Maryland’s population works in DC and/or lives near it. When DC starts letting same-sex couples marry, it’ll only be a matter of time before a critical mass of people in Prince George’s County see enough to realize it’s not the downfall of civilization. Once PG County is on board with marriage equality, well, Montgomery County will already be there and the rest of the Baltimore-Washington corridor will either be there already or not far behind. And then Bishop Harry Jackson will find himself in the position of ministering to legally married same-sex couples who held their weddings at other churches. I suppose that would make him uncomfortable.
