Letters to Letters
I read with interest the column by Chris Crain on Gay marriage [in the March 12, 2010 issue of Letters]. I enjoyed reading it but it would have been better had it been accurate regarding how marriage-equality in DC came about. Giving credit for an electoral achievement to DC for Marriage makes no sense. The achievement was a legislative one with a vote of the DC Council.
This vote was secured by the hard work of many in the DC community over years. Credit goes to GLAA, The Stein Democratic Club, and individual activists including Bob Summersgill and those who helped elect the Councilmembers who voted yes on marriage equality. They were all elected prior to DC for Marriage coming into existence and prior to their election had all committed to voting for marriage-equality. The Mayor had committed to signing a bill during his campaign both publicly and in his platform which I helped to draft.
I think it is important to get it right when giving credit to people for accomplishments. The primary credit for knowing when the time was right to introduce the bill goes to openly gay DC Councilmember David Catania. He understood when to do it and how to do it. It was David who rang the bell on this. DC for Marriage is a great group and did a good job of collecting names and publicizing the fight for marriage-equality in the past year. These names were collected to ID supporters should we have to fight a referendum or initiative in DC, which we believe the courts will not allow, and also helped tremendously in getting people to testify at the Council hearings.
Peter D. Rosenstein - A Founder of the Campaign for All DC Families
Chris Crain responds:
Peter Rosenstein is correct that marriage equality would never have happened without majority support on the Council and backing from the mayor, but both were accomplished many, many years before GLAA and others were willing to ask them to actually vote. The impact of D.C. for Marriage was not limited to the activist work that they did, but in publicly pressuring GLAA and the Council to move forward with full marriage equality after years and years of overly conservative incrementalism.
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