269 speakers on deck for gay marriage hearing
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
October 25, 2009
Speaker's list» The Most Rev. Martin Holley: Archdiocese of Washington
» John Wimberly: president of the American Civil Liberties Union, National Capital Area
» David Meadows: D.C. Democratic Party executive director
» The Rev. Walter Fauntroy
The D.C. Council's hearing on gay marriage legislation will feature 269 speakers over at least two days of marathon sessions, separated by a week.
The hearing before the council's public safety and judiciary committee, chaired by at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson, starts Monday at 3:30 p.m. in the D.C. Council chambers. The first day will be limited to 100 speakers. No new speakers were allowed to sign up after Thursday.
The remaining speakers will be heard beginning at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 2, under the council's schedule.
The issue on the table is Councilman David Catania's bill to legalize gay marriage. The legislation guarantees the clergy's right not to perform a same-sex marriage, and it discontinues the registration of new domestic partnerships as of Jan. 1, 2011.
Bob Summersgill, a long-time gay rights activist in D.C., leads off the first day of testimony, followed by Rick Rosendall with the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance. Jay Fisette, the openly gay vice chairman of the Arlington County board, is scheduled to speak 12th.
Bob King, a Ward 5 advisory neighborhood commissioner and vehement gay marriage opponent, is scheduled to speak seventh and Bishop Harry Jackson of Beltsville's Hope Christian Church 13th.
And there will be a third perspective represented during the hearing. The Alternatives to Marriage Project, a group that promotes "equality and fairness for unmarried people," will be on hand to press their cause -- to save domestic partnerships.
The great thing about D.C.'s domestic partnership law is that it allows any two people who are 18 years or older, competent and living together to be recognized under the law as a couple, said Nicky Grist, the project's executive director. That includes, she said, people related by blood.
"The District of Columbia domestic partnership registry is open to people who will still not be allowed to marry even if D.C. recognizes same sex marriage," said Nicky Grist, executive director of the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based project. "What that does is open the door to people who are living together and taking care of each other being recognized under the law. We would hate to lose that in Washington, D.C."
Peter Rosenstein, D.C. gay activist, said the domestic partnership law was adopted in the early 1990s as a health care bill but eventually became a vehicle for same-sex couples to get benefits. Domestic, he noted, simply means you live together.
"I just don't think it's a big issue," Rosenstein said. "If you have marriage equality you don't need domestic partnerships. I'm not concerned one way or the other."
