Earlier last week it was reported by DC Agenda and other outlets Marriage Equality foes had exhausted all legal avenues for thwarting Marriage Equality DC. The law is scheduled to take effect tomorrow, licenses will be granted to same-gender couples.
But, like the ghoulish heart-munching Zombies they are, they have risen from the grave again. This time they're throwing the Hail Mary pass all the way to the Supreme Court. Gay marriage opponents including Baptist minister, Walter E. Fauntroy, have petitioned the SCOTUS to issue an emergency stay on DC's plan to treat all citizens equality:
Court papers filed Monday with Chief Justice John Roberts argue that Washington residents should be able to vote on the matter. Local courts have rejected the opponents' arguments.
Now, "The people should vote on it!" has been their argument all along. And it's been rejected every step of the way. I'm not sure what they think the Supreme Court can do for them, if every lower court has affirmed there is no mechanism for them to usurp authority from the city council and hand to the people via ballot initiative.
I'll grant, I'm no Constitutional lawyer, but I'm pretty sure the Constitution doesn't guarantee citizens the right to ballot initiative every law they disagree with. If the SCOTUS chooses to open THAT Pandora's box things could get really messy.
Regardless, the DC's system of government is not without a check, Congress had 30 days to intervene and did nothing. They have lost this fight fair and square because they are noisy but not representative of the District.
In other DC Marriage Equality WATB news, the DC Catholic Charties has issued it's own sour grapes missive.
The DC Catholic Charities, who previously threatened to pull all it's charity services out of the District if the law passed, sent a letter to affiliates last night, which was posted at the Washington Post sitelast night.
As of March 2, a new plan will be in effect that will cover new employees and requests for benefit changes by current employees. The new plan will provide the same level of coverage for employees and their dependents that you now have, with one exception: spouses not in the plan as of March 1 will not be eligible for coverage in the future. If your spouse currently has coverage in our Plan, he/she may continue to be covered by the health benefit plan, even if you later add a dependent or decide to change your option level (e.g., change from low option to high option).
In other words, it's the only way we could deny gay people benefits for their lawfully wedded spouses, by denying heterosexual's benefits for their lawfully wedded spouses. Oh, and straight people, you've got one day's notice to sign your spouse up if you haven't already. Thoughtful of them, huh?
I guess this confirms both extremes of the argument for people. Gays are messing up marriage for everyone. And it's important for gays to reach secular marriage parity for gays to be treated equally.
UPDATE: IT points out, in this comment thread, and on her blog, Gay Married Californian, that while the Catholic Church cannot abide by covering homosexuals, they apparently have no problem supporting DIVORCE! Divorced spouses have always and will continue to be covered by the plan. Great find that exposes the hypocrisy and selective outrage that is so often directed at LGBT American.
Update2: Via Americablog: Their Hail Mary pass has failed to connect. The Supreme Court declined to grant their request for a stay. Marriage Equality will be reality tomorrow in our nation's capital. Hooray!