With anti-marriage-equality activists having lost in the D.C. City Council, failed to punish city legislators in the recent elections for having supported marriage equality, and been rebuffed by the Supreme Court, Republican legislators are now pushing for an outright ban on same-sex marriage in Washington D.C.:
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), told The Hill that he will push for a vote on the controversial issue in the 112th Congress. The RSC has 175 members.
“I think RSC will push for it, and I'm certainly strongly for it. I don't know if we've made a decision if I'll do it or let another member do it, but I'm 100 percent for it,” Jordan said.
When anti-equality activists descended on the city, they were careful to ensure the whole operation looked like a local affair. While there were some local groups that organized in opposition to marriage equality, the National Organization for Marriage was leading the movement, relying on Bishop Harry Jackson's dubious claims of residency to avoid accusations of outside interference.
Anti-equality activists were also careful to argue that what they wanted wasn't an outright ban on same-sex marriage but a vote on an outright ban on same-sex marriage. It was an approach calibrated to D.C.'s political sensibilities, and the frustrations of local residents over outside infringement on home rule, particularly from Congress. What anti-equality activists hoped was that the city's demographics would see them through in a referendum. African Americans nationwide tend to show higher opposition to marriage equality, but a poll taken of city residents showed a slim majority of black voters supporting same-sex marriage in a citywide vote.
The point, though, was to argue that D.C. residents "deserved a choice." This approach also had the benefit of being ideologically consistent, since its hard to rail against the federal government and then demand its interference when you lose.
Jordan, though, has never had reservations about using the heavy hand of the federal government to force his conservative views on marriage on the city. Two years ago, he proposed a law banning same-sex marriage in the city, stating that “nothing can be more important than the sanctity of our families.” The rights of families of same-sex couples, of course, aren't as inviolate. Jordan is perfectly comfortable destroying the thousands of unions that have been brought together since the law was passed, simply to satisfy his own prejudices. The number of requests for marriage licenses in the District has doubled since the law was passed.
Bottom line is this isn't getting past a Democratic Senate or a presidential veto. But it's a reminder that the GOP hasn't abandoned its culture war against the District or the cruelty and hypocrisy necessary to wage it.
