Many, including the media, have crowed about votes for a “marriage equality” resolution offered by the Gertrude Stein Club and taken during recent meetings of Democratic organizations in several wards — 2, 4, 6 and 8. They believe the favorable results indicate strong support, including among African-Americans, for same-sex marriage in the District.
Don’t believe the hype.
Many of those meetings were not well-publicized. The number of Democrats who participated in the proceedings and ultimately voted on the resolution paled when compared with the actual registered voters in those wards. For example, as of April 30, 2009, there were 45,753 registered voters in Ward 8 — 37,427 of them were Democrats — according to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics.
Published reports indicated only 32 people in Ward 8 voted earlier this month to approve the Stein resolution. That hardly can be considered representative of how registered Democrats there feel about a same-sex marriage. The numbers in other wards weren’t much better.
Moreover, the Democratic Party’s ward-based organizations aren’t paragons of objectivity. Operatives and allies of currently elected District officials dominate the leadership. For example, Charles Allen, the chairman of the Ward 6 group, also is a paid staffer for Ward 6 D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells. Wells was one of 12 legislators who voted last month to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.
Using these votes to lend credibility to the “marriage equality” movement or legitimacy to council action, taken without even a cursory public hearing, is a deliberate and orchestrated effort to mislead the public.
Misrepresenting the facts appears to be acceptable even for the media. Recent reports have suggested primary opponents to same-sex marriage in the District come mostly from the ranks of the clergy — Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church, and Anthony Evans with the National Black Church Initiative, for example — or outsiders — Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Dan Boren, D-Okla. But historic and recent polls offer evidence to the contrary.
In May 2006, a survey commissioned by the Foundation for all Families of 800 likely District voters found only 42 percent of blacks favored a same-sex marriage initiative. Last month, a New York Times poll found that 38 percent of blacks and 40 percent of whites supported gay marriage. A Post-ABC poll also conducted last month found that 48 percent of whites and 42 percent of blacks “strongly or somewhat favored same-sex marriage.”
The local Democratic Party apparatus and members of the Gertrude Stein Club can distract, misdirect and generally attempt to obfuscate. But they can’t deny those polls’ clear assertion: The majority of African-Americans, including those in the District, hasn’t and still doesn’t support same-sex marriage.
But if “marriage equality” advocates aren’t persuaded, they could take their cause directly to the people. They could push to place an initiative on the ballot in 2010. The results from that effort would provide indisputable evidence of District residents’ position, wouldn’t it?
