The Vine News

DC area ministers are taking the debate over homosexual marriage to a higher power.

Just months after the DC City Council approved legislation to acknowledge gay marriages from other jurisdictions, local ministers are gearing up for a fight against broader legislation that would aim to legalize gay marriage in the city-- expected to be introduced to the City Council early this month -- with a prayer gathering.

Groups such as Stand 4 Marriage, the DC Missionary Baptist Ministers Conference, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, AME Churches, Foursquare Churches, the Collective Banking Group and several of DC's Neighborhood Advisory Commissioners are joining with leaders like Bishop Harold Jackson of the High Impact Leadership Coalition to voice opposition to the idea of same sex marriage, and to persuade the powers that be to allow DC residents a vote on the issue.

Councilmember David Catania (I-At Large) has already drafted legislation to allow same sex marriage in DC with 10 supporters on the council, according to reports. He has not yet introduced the bill, but could do so early this month. Three Council members are expected to vote against it.

A City Council bill needs 7 votes to pass, but under DC Home Rule, may be rejected by Congress.

While area ministers wait for that issue to unfold, they have already filed the Marriage Initiative of 2009, a ballot initiative which, if allowed, would let DC voters decide on the gay marriage issue.

A hearing on the Marriage Initiative is scheduled before the DC Board of Elections and Ethics Oct. 26, and area leaders are looking for other religious and community leaders to testify in support of it.

Church leaders are also working to organize city ministries in prayer at Freedom Plaza in early October, in order to show their support for traditional marriage, and for the ballot initiative.

The gathering would be in contrast to the National Equality March, scheduled for Oct. 11, during which thousands of gay-rights activists are expected to descend on the city.

Jackson said even with 10 City Council members ready to support a gay marriage bill, there's still time to turn the tide.

"If they're saying they have 10, that means they have less than that," Jackson said recently at a Collective Banking Group meeting during which the organization agreed to stand in support of traditional marriage. "Unless the other side believes there'll be political blood on the street, they're not going to do anything."

Jackson said he met recently with one council member, and was told that if churches were adamantly opposed to such legislation, their showing could cause others to change their vote.

"They said to me the church is becoming irrelevant," Jackson reported. "[the member said]’ I don’t believe in [same sex marriage] but you've got to help me’."

According to a pro-gay marriage website, activists have built a coalition within the religious community of about 100 DC ministers and churches -- including leaders of prominent divinity schools -- who are supporting a redefining of marriage other than that between one man and one woman.

But other church leaders are calling on ministers and their congregants -- anyone who lives, works, or worships in DC or has members who do -- to gather, pray and petition the council to let the people’s voices be heard at the voting booth.

"Council members are political people," said Robert King, a Neighborhood Advisory Commissioner in 5A. "If they don’t think there's no clergy, or that the other side has so many people, where do you think they're going? That’s why we want the clergy to come out."

Residents who want to testify in support of the Marriage Initiative of 2009 on Oct. 26 can do so by registering with the board of elections. Call 202-727-2194 or email ogc@dcboee.org.

CAPTION TO FOTO OF WOMEN: Photo by Baptist Press. Alice Geralyne and Christmas Leubrie, a lesbian couple, celebrate the California Supreme Court's "gay marriage" decision last year. The state passed a constitutional amendment supporting traditional marriage later that year. Photo by Kat Wade.