Today the American Prospect released a piece describing the connections between DC's anti-marriage equality advocates. Read the Article
To no surprise via the connections and networks of Bishop Harry Jackson there is massive support from conservative wealthy opponents of marriage from across the country.
While it comes to no surprise that folks from outside the District believe they should be able to control District Laws and impose their will on DC tax payers, it is the statements of local pastor Patrick Walker who is leader of the anti-marriage task force for the Missionary Baptist Ministers Conference, who has no female members, that is most disturbing.
I'm sorry Pastor Walker, you cannot stand for homerule and the right of the District to pass our own laws without congressional intervention in some instances, and then support congressional intervention in another. Our fight for voting rights and full self-determination isn't a political game that can be picked up when it benefits you and set aside when it doesn't.
If the Missionary Baptist's ministers conference, Pastor Walker and other local clergy have decided to align themselves with Bishop Jackson and his supporters in any way on this issue, they have taken a clear stand against homerule and self-determination for the District of Columbia.
You cannnot say that you stand for the District having the ability to set our own laws and call for District residents to have the final say on local policy, then stand side by side with people who are calling for the U. S. Congress to impose their will on DC residents.
Make up your mind are you standing with the residents of the District of Columbia or are you standing with the big money conservative funders.
Which is it?
To no surprise via the connections and networks of Bishop Harry Jackson there is massive support from conservative wealthy opponents of marriage from across the country.
A veteran of campaigns to ban same-sex marriage in Florida, Arizona, and California, Jackson is represented by Shirley and Bannister Public Affairs, a conservative public-relations firm that also represents luminaries Ann Coulter and Peggy Noonan, as well as the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, with whom Jackson co-authored a book. Two of the signatories to a letter Jackson and other D.C.-area clergy penned to Mayor Adrian Fenty opposing same-sex marriage are members of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, a group founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who also owns the right-wing Washington Times. The treasurer of Stand 4 Marriage DC is Brian S. Brown, who is also the executive director of the National Organization for Marriage. And the group is represented by Brian Raum, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian-right legal organization founded by James Dobson. Jackson says he's still a registered Democrat, but this is another point at which the two men diverge: While Walker volunteered for the Obama campaign, Jackson spent election season penning Townhall columns in support of John McCain.
While it comes to no surprise that folks from outside the District believe they should be able to control District Laws and impose their will on DC tax payers, it is the statements of local pastor Patrick Walker who is leader of the anti-marriage task force for the Missionary Baptist Ministers Conference, who has no female members, that is most disturbing.
While Walker and the MBMC claim they're committed to finding a local solution to their problem, Walker would welcome Congress' intervention even though he isn’t lobbying Congress directly. "It would be a blessing," he says.
I'm sorry Pastor Walker, you cannot stand for homerule and the right of the District to pass our own laws without congressional intervention in some instances, and then support congressional intervention in another. Our fight for voting rights and full self-determination isn't a political game that can be picked up when it benefits you and set aside when it doesn't.
If the Missionary Baptist's ministers conference, Pastor Walker and other local clergy have decided to align themselves with Bishop Jackson and his supporters in any way on this issue, they have taken a clear stand against homerule and self-determination for the District of Columbia.
You cannnot say that you stand for the District having the ability to set our own laws and call for District residents to have the final say on local policy, then stand side by side with people who are calling for the U. S. Congress to impose their will on DC residents.
Make up your mind are you standing with the residents of the District of Columbia or are you standing with the big money conservative funders.
Which is it?
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