Just as the ink started to dry on the DC Board of Elections' decision to turn down a referendum to ban gay marriage, Bishop Harry Jackson is taking the District to Court--with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund.
"The people of D.C. have a right to vote on the definition of marriage," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks. "The D.C. Charter guarantees the people the right to vote, and the council cannot amend the charter for any reason, much less to deny citizens the right to vote. ADF will defend the right of the residents of our nation’s capitol to participate in a legitimate democratic process in the district."
Well, this came sooner than expected. Jackson all but announced he's appealing--but only two days later? Wow--I thought it would be after Thanksgiving.
Sadly, Jackson and friends have been bitten by the same misguided notion that laws passed by referenda are superior to other laws. Let's say it all together as a group--basic rights can't be put up for a vote.
I find it somewhat ironic, as a black man myself, that a black pastor is wrapping himself in the right of people to vote. By the logic he's using, blacks would still be in segregated schools. Somewhere I remember that back around the time of Brown v. Board of Education, a majority of whites opposed integrating schools. Be glad we didn't have a vote on that.