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LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Friday, November 26, 2004
The Rev. James Wilson, assistant pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Northwest
D.C., said he and the members of his mostly African-American congregation support
the concept of civil rights for all city residents, including gays.
But when it comes to the issue of marriage, Wilson said, members of the New
Bethel Baptist Church view things from a perspective of church teachings rather
than civil rights.
“We would not be in favor of gay marriage,” he said.
Gay activists familiar with D.C.’s majority African-American electorate
say Wilson’s comment points to a dramatic paradox in the voting trends
of large numbers of city residents: while they are among the country’s
most liberal voters on economic issues, they have the potential for being among
the most conservative on social issues such as gay marriage.
This assessment has led some gay activists to believe that a proposed ballot
initiative by Ward 4 resident Lisa L. Greene to ban same-sex marriage in the
District of Columbia has a chance of passing, just as similar measures passed
in 11 states in the Nov. 2 election.
“When it comes to gay marriage, I’m afraid something like this
can pass here in D.C.,” said gay activist Phil Pannell, a longtime civic
leader in Ward 8.
Greene withdrew her proposed initiative last week after an attorney with the
D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics told her she used an incorrect legislative
format in her wording of the initiative and she failed to submit a required
campaign finance statement. Greene said she would correct her mistakes and resubmit
the initiative in the next few weeks.
It could not be determined at press time whether Greene has the support needed
to obtain more than 19,000 petition signatures needed to place the initiative
on the ballot once the election board approves the document’s wording.
But some gay activists and local political observers believe Greene or someone
else will come forward soon to place such a measure on the ballot. Religious
right groups from outside the city would likely provide financial and logistical
support for this effort, activists said.
“It’s going to happen,” said Donna Payne, coordinator of
faith related issues for the Human Rights Campaign, the D.C.-based national
gay civil rights group.
Payne, a D.C. resident for 17 years, said she is hopeful that D.C. voters will
reject a marriage ban initiative. Among other things, Payne said a large number
of openly gay ministers and church pastors in D.C. have worked for years with
their straight counterparts on a wide range of social and charitable issues
and projects.
“They’ve been part of the faith community for a long time,”
Payne said of the gay ministers. “So we’re starting from a point,
unlike in many of the other states, where the two sides know each other and
are willing to sit down and talk. Maybe we can work something out.”
The Rev. Candis Shultis, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of D.C.,
which has a largely gay congregation, said a group of both gay and non-gay ministers
have approached her to lead a committee of religious leaders who would oppose
a D.C. marriage initiative.
“We will try to pull together a planning group to deal with this,”
Shultis said. “This will be a theological discussion, and we need to plan
how we should address it.”
At the same time, Shultis said, people of faith would point out that same-sex
marriage is a matter of justice and equality for lesbians and gays, and that
this goes beyond the issue of religion.
Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, senior pastor of the Imani Temple African
American Catholic Congregation on Capitol Hill, said his congregation would
likely support a ban on same-sex marriage, even though most church members strongly
support civil rights for all city residents. He said he believes his congregation
is representative of the majority of the city’s African-American voters.
“If I had to wager on how this would do, I feel we would see the same
result that we saw in the 11 states that passed it,” Stallings said.
“This is a very divisive issue,” Stallings said. “In D.C.,
you are seeing blacks taking a more conservative view on this, even though the
black community tends to be very liberal on other issues.”
Stallings predicts that most black churches will come out strongly against
same-sex marriage and that the black community as a whole would vote in favor
of an initiative banning gay marriage.
“But at the same time, I feel the community would be more supportive
of same-sex unions and equal rights and equal benefits for same-sex couples,”
Stallings said.
Other local ministers said at least some black churches would decline to join
a bandwagon in support of an initiative to ban gay marriage.
“Our church supports the union of gays and lesbians,” said the
Rev. Rebecca West, assistant pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church of Christ
on North Capitol Street.
“We’re like any other church,” she said. “There are
mixed emotions about gays and lesbians. I firmly believe we are all children
of God and we are created in the image of God,” she said, adding that
she would oppose an initiative seeking to ban same-sex marriage.
Members of Christ Church on Capitol Hill, an Episcopal congregation, have said
their church welcomes gay men and lesbians and would most likely take a stand
against a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage.
Although many D.C. churches are expected to support a gay marriage ban in D.C.,
Rev. Wilson, the assistant pastor at New Bethel Baptist Church, suggest he personally
is ambivalent over the issue, even though he opposes gay marriage on religious
grounds.
Wilson’s view is considered important because the Rev. Walter Fauntroy,
the pastor of New Bethel, is among the national leaders of an effort to pass
a federal marriage amendment seeking to ban gay marriage. Fauntroy could not
be reached for comment by press time to determine his view on a D.C. marriage
ban initiative.
“I can’t speak for the church,” Wilson said. “But for
me, I am not interested in fighting the gay people and what they want for themselves.
I fight for the higher authority.”
Added Wilson, “I don’t think you can legislate what people do morally.
No laws we have passed have stopped people from engaging in adultery. I advocate
that people come to grips with the fact that they are human beings who must
answer to a higher authority,” he said.
“If the law says that Joe can live with Moe and they have a right to
the legal benefits of living together, that’s fine. I’m just not
in favor of the term marriage being used.”
Lou Chibbaro Jr. can be reached at lchibbaro@washblade.com.
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