Same-sex marriage: make it happen in the District

It’s been well over a century since the ratification of the 14th Amendment granted all persons equal protection under the law. In spite of this, millions of gay and lesbian couples around our country are denied their constitutional right to get married. Approximately 8.1 percent of our city identifies as gay, lesbian, or bisexual and is subsequently denied this right. But on Tuesday, Georgetown alumnus and D.C. Councilman David Catania (I-At-Large) (SFS ’90, LAW ’94) will introduce the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 to the City Council, finally granting gay and lesbian couples the right to marry in the District. While America’s blatantly unequal institution of marriage is a travesty, the fight for marriage is part of a much larger fight for equality.
Earlier this year, an eleven-year-old victim of anti-gay bullying hanged himself in Springfield, Massachusetts. Just a few weeks prior to that tragedy in Massachusetts, two gay men on a beach in Oregon were brutally assaulted in what local police described as a hate crime. These events are products of a society that systematically discriminates against gays and lesbians. From our nation’s unequal definition of marriage to our military’s ban on openly gay service members, institutionalized discrimination against gays and lesbians reinforces age-old homophobic attitudes in American culture, solidifying members of the gay community as second-class citizens.
These attitudes, however, are changing. In 2009 alone, same-sex marriage became legal in four states. One of those four states was Iowa, a culturally-conservative state in the heartland, which contrasts sharply with other more liberal states in the northeast that have also sanctioned same-sex marriages. While the legalization of same-sex marriage is usually instituted through judicial fiat, Vermont broke ground earlier this year by becoming the first state to legislate same-sex marriage.
Those of us who support marriage equality owe much of our recent success to our embarrassing opponents and their absurd motivating ideologies. Republican Sally Kern, a state legislator from my beloved home state of Oklahoma, became notorious last year for asserting that homosexuality is a greater threat to society than Al-Qaeda. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (R) propagated the same kind of hyperbole when he compared same-sex marriages to “man-on-dog” relationships. These spectacles expose the hatred that permeates opponents of marriage equality, and as a result, reasonable people are becoming much more sympathetic to our cause.
Our recent victories in Vermont and Iowa reflect a promising trend towards marriage equality. This trend, however, is not simply a testament to our generation’s increasingly open-minded attitude towards gays and lesbians, but also a harbinger of the right’s ebbing interest in opposing the same-sex marriage issue. A few weeks ago, the Family Research Council, a socially conservative special interest group, hosted their annual Values Voter Summit here in Washington. In a straw poll that surveyed their attendees’ top issue of concern, only 7 percent cited their opposition to same-sex marriage. Meanwhile, over four times as many of these “values voters” referred to abortion as their “top concern.”
The enthusiasm of those opposing same-sex marriage is diminishing as the movement for marriage equality continues to build momentum. In Sunday’s National Equality March, thousands of pro-equality activists will descend upon the National Mall to demand full equal rights for LGBT people. The fight for marriage equality is only a small chapter in a much larger cause, and Sunday’s march will highlight a wide array of issues pertaining to the gay and lesbian community.
As we approach the National March, let us realize that it is time to establish marriage equality here in the District. Washington has an opportunity to follow Vermont’s lead in advancing marriage equality through a legislative body—and nearly every single member of the Council has committed to Catania’s legislation. Despite the small but vocal group of naysayers in this city, this town demands marriage equality and those of us in the LGBT community are getting impatient. The time to act is now. May we see the Council swiftly pass the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009.