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D.C. Council casts final vote to legalize same-sex "marriage"

The District of Columbia City Council voted again this afternoon to approve a measure legalizing same-sex "marriage," reports Peter J. Smith, LifeSiteNews.com.

D.C. Council members passed the "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009" by an 11-2 margin on the final reading of the bill. An identical vote took place on December 1 for the first reading of the bill.

The measure will now go to Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has stated his intention to sign the bill into law.

Congress will have thirty days to review the law before it can take effect. Without Congressional intervention, the nation's capital should see the first same-sex "marriages" performed in March around St. Patrick's Day.

Few Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill have expressed interest in overturning the legislation.

The federal district's religious leaders, however, have stridently opposed the bill. Black pastors led by Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church are fighting for the right to put same-sex "marriage" before the residents of D.C. for a vote, and form a great part of the Stand4MarriageDC coalition that is demanding the ballot initiative.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington also opposed the scant religious protections in the bill. D.C. Archbishop Donald Wuerl warned that the archdiocese would be forced to end its social services contracts with the city if they passed the measure. The D.C. Archdiocese said they would have no other choice if the bill were not amended to permit its state-affiliated entities to continue to honor only natural marriage in its employment practices.

In November, the DC Board of Ethics and Elections muzzled an attempt by Bishop Jackson and other Christian religious leaders to put the marriage question in the hands of voters through a ballot initiative, ruling that the initiative amounted to a violation of homosexuals' "human rights."

Jackson has argued that the BOEE's decision amounts to a denial of the civil rights of D.C. voters, especially members of the Black community, which adamantly opposes same-sex "marriage" and would vote to preserve the natural definition of marriage if given the opportunity.

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TAGS: USA D.C. Council legalize same-sex "marriage" religious freedom Christian religious leaders

[12/17/2009]

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