Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by D.C. Marriage Equality Opponents

[swag]

Source: Associated Press

Court rejects appeal over DC gay marriage law
(AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from opponents of same-sex marriage who want to overturn the District of Columbia's gay marriage law.

The court did not comment Tuesday in turning away a challenge from a Maryland pastor and others who are trying to get a measure on the ballot to allow Washingtonians to vote on a measure that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Bishop Harry Jackson led a lawsuit against the district's Board of Elections and Ethics after it refused to put that initiative on the ballot. The board ruled that the ballot question would in effect authorize discrimination.

Last year, Washington began issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples and in 2009, it began recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVR6R4bAUGJabv66JKnT3eA5dyXg?docId=2df0ca4b9d22475c8ce576298255200d

[Solly Mack]

1. k/r

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Okay, here's the next strategy,

We declare that all corporate personhoods are bisexually oriented. Oh, if we could make that stick, we would really confuse them.

[GodlessBiker]

3. Woot! Maryland next!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

4. Hope you're right. I'm thrilled that Governor O'Malley was reelected, but he has to tread lightly.

I like him a lot. He's not a liberal, but he's been a fairly good governor.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Supreme Court refuses to revive effort to put DC same-sex marriage law to vote

Source: Washington Post

By Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 18, 2011; 11:53 AM

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to revive a lawsuit intending to allow a voter referendum on the District's same-sex marriage law.

Local courts have said the District's Board of Elections and Ethics was justified in denying attempts by opponents of same-sex marriage to put the issue to a vote. Without comment, the justices said they would not review the latest decision upholding the board's decision by the D.C. Court of Appeals.

The board has contended that such a ballot initiative would, if approved, violate the city's Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. A judge agreed, and the appeals court by a 5 to 4 vote upheld the ruling.

The challenge was led by Bishop Harry Jackson, a D.C. resident who is pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville. He and other opponents, represented by a conservative legal group, said it should not be up to officials to decide when public initiatives are allowed.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/18/AR2011011802214.html?hpid=topnews

---

Thanks to DCist for the tip.

Jackson's Gay Marriage Challenge Rejected By Supreme Court

[rurallib]

6. wonder which of the righty justices refused to support it and why

probably never hear.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Wow. Those who live in DC are getting screwed every way they can get screwed.

and not even getting dinner first...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18tue3.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Taxation Without Representation, Indeed
Published: January 17, 2011

The long suffering, and underrepresented, taxpayers of the District of Columbia are properly worried about their shrinking role in the new Republican-controlled House. Tucked into the changes enacted by Speaker John Boehner is a rule depriving the district of its one bit of token voting power in Congress.

Washington’s 600,000 residents are allowed by law to elect only a watchful delegate. In 2007, the Democratic leadership allowed that delegate to cast some limited committee votes. Now even that has been killed by Republicans, leaving the delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and the city fathers questioning whether they are heading back to the “plantation mentality” days when Congressional committees routinely undermined home rule.

The city came closer to democracy last year until a measure that would have given it a full voting representative was scuttled after the gun lobby attached noxious amendments gutting gun controls in the district. This has long been the fate of Congress’s host city under the pendulum swipes of politics. Democrats enacted limited voting powers for the delegate in 1993, but Republicans killed them two years later only to see them revived when Democrats reclaimed the gavel four years ago.

<snip>

[swimboy]

8. Great news

Thanks for posting it. Waiting to hear how the opponents of the outcome will attempt to seek redress through Congress.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

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