''I have advocated, where there are contractural relationships between people who, who have same-sex relationships, that they ought to be granted; and provided the contractural that the courts re -- provide everyone. However, on the question of marriage -- you cannot equate marriage with a contract when marriage is nature's schoolroom for teaching people how to care for, protect and defend one another.... That's why across the world, we are in danger, quite frankly, of violating the principle of perpetuation of the species. I have many, many friends, who are -- have, uh, sexual preference to others of the same sex. But they cannot reproduce....
''I just want to make it very clear that we who are most concerned about this issue, are concerned as political scientists, who know that this issue has been used by people who want to deny people five things, and are doing it effectively, in order to win eleven states in 1984 by diverting the attention of the people from the issue which was an ill-advised WAR in Iraq that has wrecked the world.... I've known homosexual couples for years and always advised, 'Protect yourself.' Please, get rid of -- I've married couples -- heterosexual couples who need a contract to make sure, that 'if you rat on me' -- uh, excuse me! If -- if we buy this house and, and you -- you're not gonna have it. You, it's -- as we used to say on the street -- uh, um -- 'It's cheaper to keep her!'''
A rambling, repetitive, moody, and incomprehensible Walter E. Fauntroy, long-time pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church (located at 9th & S Streets NW, DC), making the case before Council Chair Phil Mendelson and the DC City Council that humanity, as a species, is at risk if gays are allowed to be married in the District of Columbia. Fauntroy, 76, was once considered a respectable ally of Dr. Martin Luther King and his civil rights struggle. He was also DC's first (non-voting) delegate to the U.S. Congress. During a strong rebuttal by openly gay Councilman David Catania, Fauntroy seemed to have an embarrassing Freudian slip about his dealings with couples he marries.
To the frustration and dismay of some people, the pastor has become a fervent opponent of equal marriage rights for gay men and lesbians over the last several years. He stood along side the Bush-era Republican Congress in their effort to push through the Federal Marriage Amendment. Not to be confused with DOMA, the FMA was a separate bill created by social conservatives in the early 2000s. If it had passed, it would have amended the Constitution of the United States to permanently ban gay men and women from attaining legal marriage in any form. Fauntroy told the Washngton Post in 2004 he was against same-sex marriage because it would confuse and destroy black families. He recently crawled in bed with Harry Jackson's efforts to block the Council from enacting marriage equality bills. The first bill that recognized gay marriages performed legally in other states has already gone through. But the second bill, which is legally recognizes same-sex marriages performed within the District is the focus of today's religiously- and racially-driven nonsense.
Dr King's name and words were invoked a number of other public witnesses who testified today. Most were in favor of passing a same-sex marriage bill by a wide margin -- nearly 10:1, and all of those opposed cited their interpretation of God's will or claimed that they were speaking for multitudes of the small people who wanted to vote on the issue. (DC Council via Office of Cable TV)
