Brian Brown Says D.C. Residents Have 'God-Given' Right to Vote on Marriage Equality

I DID say I wanted to see the look on the faces of Brian Brown and Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) when they heard that the D.C. Council passed marriage equality on the first of two scheduled votes. But I DIDN'T say I wanted to hear from them.

Of course, that didn't stop them from yakkin'. Brian Brown issued this response to the vote:

This battle is not over. DC politicians are blocking the right of people to vote on marriage. Voters in 31 other states have already exercised their right to vote on this issue. It is ironic that some politicians actively campaign demanding DC voting rights and yet they are conspiring to deny those same citizens the right to vote on the definition of marriage. We will not give up on D.C. The people of D.C. have the right to vote for marriage; we will fight for their rights and we will win. NOM will be proud to fight alongside Bishop Harry Jackson to make sure politicians hear the people's voice loud and clear: don't mess with marriage. We will fight in Congress. We will fight through the courts to get this to the people of D.C. who have a God-given right to vote for marriage and Charter-given right to overturn the council's decision. We are confident marriage will win in the end in D.C. as it has in Maine and 30 other states.

Yes, it's Americans God-given right (because the Bible says so, right?) to vote away minority rights, just like they did on interracial marriage.

Wait.

No they didn't. Because if they did, interracial would still be illegal today! When the Supreme Court ruled on Loving vs. Virginia, a large majority of Americans thought it was immoral.

(We need to do a better job of teaching history - we have a lot of people today who don't realize that they're committing the damning error of repeating it.)

Just because 31 states have voted on this doesn't make it right. Herd mentality doesn't indicate intelligence.

NOM and Harry Bishop Jackson have appealed the D.C. Board of Elections ruling that no initiative will take place because it would violate the District's Human Rights Act.

Our Families Count reports that D.C. has the largest percentage of same-sex couples in the country with 1.5%, doubling any other state. This is roughly equivalent to 3,600 couples. Opposition would face a stiff challenge at the ballot box, however unconstitutional the vote may be.

Bring it on.