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Ship of State: Washington D.C. Mayor to Sign Gay Marriage Measure… Marion Barry Rushes To Tip Boat

Posted by DR. CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTÉS, Deputy Managing Editor, Columnist in Religion.
May 5th, 2009 | Comments

D.C. Gay Marriage Measure Set for Mayor’s Signature
The original vote was 13-0, for the Washington D.C. Council to recognize marriages of ALL people that are recognized in other states, including same-gender marriages.

At first Marion Barry (D-Ward8) rushed to one side of the Council votes to honor other States’ same-gender unions, voting yes for it. But then, seeming to pretend he didn’t understand what he was voting for, he asked Council for a ‘reconsideration’ of the vote.

Then, Mr. Barry voted against the measure, so the final vote was 12-1 for.

Regardless of how Mr. Barry votes, the mayor Adrian Fenty, a Democrat, is a supporter of marriages between same gendered people, and is expected to Ok the measure.

Then it goes before Congress. Under D.C.’s Home Rule, the District’s laws are given a 30-day Congressional review period.

But there are often ‘back stories’ arent there? It seems Mr. Barry was not confused. Something occurred to make him change his vote. A sudden series of faxes? A series of ‘…or else…’ email blasts, text messages? The large mob of protesters led by local preachers who were shouting in seeming unChristian style, “Get them [all] off the Council”?

According to WaPo,

“…before the final vote, Barry noted he has been a longtime supporter of gay rights but said he decided to stand with the “ministers who stand on the moral compass of God.”

“It has been a very agonizing and difficult decision,” Barry said. He then added, “I feel comfortable with this position because I know where my heart is. . . . I am representing my constituents. I have thought about it lot and I have been a friend of [the gay] community and will continue to be a friend of this community.”

There are several ironies in all this, the least of which is that you can rarely assert you are a true friend to others unless the others agree to accept you as a friend in return. A lasting friendship doesnt come by public fiat. It comes through supportive actions, reasoned disagreement, and much regard and love.

The other irony, is that ’standing on the moral compass of God,’ is likely correct, since the God that dictated about ‘who would be with whom’ was the Old Testament God, Yaweh Jehovah, the God known for immense breath-taking Creation, and also known for destroying everything in sight in fits of rage.

Likewise, when old St. Paul reiterated the Old Testament abomination material in the New Testament in his ‘letters,’ he too was copying, not Christ, but the Old Testament God.

As usual, with regard to condemning human beings, Christ, the God of Love, never said a word about same gender philios and love. He just tried to care for, heal, and teach everyone peace and love, first and foremost. Those, as I understand them, would seem to be the authentic marks of the devout Christian… calming the storm, rather than raising one.

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Ryan

Christ, the God of Love, is also the guy who preached of the eternal torments of Hell. If Barry were really standing on the moral compass of God he would be torturing gays to death.

Silhouette

It is just possible that Barry might be a friend of gays and oppose gay marriage. It doesn't seem possible in one sense.

But if you look at it from another angle it makes perfect sense. If you have a strong belief in the negative impact of a certain behavior, like freestyle [no protection] rock climbing or cliff jumping, but you have dear friends who engage in it, you could simultaneously really love and care about your friends while at the same time campaign against those activities in the name of your strong beliefs against them

Yes. And if the "friends" you cared for who vehemently promoted these activities turned you away simply because you did not "fully promote and support their behavior" then what kind of friends would THEY be?

I like to turn things on their head and look at them from another angle..

casualobserver

Marion is suffering the latent effects of the habitual nasal ingestion of blow in the backrooms of certain 14th Street business establishments while conducting the official business of the Mayor's Office circa 1989........cut the guy some slack, at this point, I'm amazed he can even discern gender, much less gender preferences.

whitetrashlib

This is the same Marion Barry that was busted for crack possesion while in the company of prostitutes, right? Why does anyone care what he has to say about morality?

Silhouette

No one should care about it, the deviant sex question is one about sociology and how human systems absorb information from one another and mold whole new realities based on coercion, overt or under the radar either one.

It is a question of causing our future generations to inherit a new set of "norms". We will decide today, what is normal tomorrow for the masses.. all via human social learning. Put religion out to pasture on this debate..

Ghostdreams

There's someone here that views rock climbing as an issue that is the same as gender orientation?
Ooooookay.
Well...
I like to look at things from a different angle too.
Here's my angle...
When someone tells me that they are my "friend" but then in the same breath tells me that I don't deserve the same basic civil rights that they do, THEY might still consider themselves my friend but personally, I'm going to feel offended, distanced and unsupported.
These are not "friendly" feelings btw. These are the feelings of the unloved and alienated.
And, for the record, I will not consider anyone who supports my ongoing devaluation in our society, my friend.

The "Same but different" idea doesn't work and it sets one group of people up to be outsiders.
An Aside:
As someone who served my country during Viet Nam and as a citizen of this country I find it reprehensible that other Americans would tell me that my civil rights as a gay woman don't count.
My comment to those Americans who want my rights tossed into the waste paper basket is this:
I was willing to go war for you and proved it by joining the USAF during Viet Nam and served as a Medic (the only job at that time in which a woman could be put onto a combat field)...I did this to support my country and my fellow countrypeople.
Now...
What have you done for me lately, eh?
Oh yes. You deny me my civil rights ongoing. No safety from job discrimination, housing discrimination, etc ad nauseum.
Gee ....Thank you so much my GOOD friend. (NOT!)

FYI - 38 states in our union have NO laws in place to protect gay people from job harassment, job discrimination or housing discrimination.
A mere handful of states allow gay people the "right" to marry (and it's interesting that those states that allow us to marry DO have laws to protect gay people from discrimination - hmmmm...seems the two might co-incide to some extent).

My two cents worth,
Ghost

Ghostdreams

Jesus and hell:
Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire (Gehenna--SGD).

The word used was Gehenna. Gehenna was a region (a valley southeast of Jerusalem) where criminals were sent (apparently a really awful place BUT a temporal place none the less).
Jesus was not implying a never ending state of hell (hell eternal). He was speaking in metaphor and in a current time frame i.e. a punishment but one that has an end to it.
I don't think that Jesus had it in Him to even consider such a thing (hell eternal awful damnation burning ouchy screaming etc).
My two cents worth
Ghost

Ryan

Oh dear. Here we go again...
"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:" (Mt 25:41)
What does "everlasting" mean to you?
If you're interpreting Jesus' words to fit your preconceived notion that he was a really nice guy, then you're doing it backwards.

ordinarysparrow

surely we are an evolutionary species. . .just look at the level of consciousness since the 1950's doesn't it make sense we would evolve in spiritual and social consciousness from 10,000 or even 2,000 years ago. . . they had no concept of the people we are in modernity. . .it they did can you imagine what they would of been writing about. . .surely it would of blown there circuits to be transported to the TMV. . . bet it would make them want to go back and re-write the "sin list". . .and sexual orientation would surely be low priority. . . .

for the ones that propose the supremacy of biblical authority based on your interpretation of scripture your arguments may hold some weight in your church but in larger evolving society, the "battle" is lost. . . in a few more years the majority will be part of the conscious evolution of equality and equanimity. . . . polls are showing young people have no problem accepting gays and lesbians. . . the day shall come when the "war campaign" against GLBT will seem as archaic as the pro- and antislavery arguments. . .

"Nothing in regard to controversial matters has ever been settled by the Bible." William Lloyd Garrison

archangel

I'm not a biblical scholar but am fascinated by those scholars, like Martin Marty (contemporary), Stringfellow (deceased), and those at reputable theological seminaries who've given a lifetime study to the Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin versions of the old and new testaments in recent time... Not all who call themselves theologians 'study' without also having an axe to grind to one side or another. I am not an expert just a reader now for decades, but know there are less than a dozen references in the New Testament Gospels to 'hell,' most of which reference, in context, casting out YOUR own eye if you offend, cutting off YOUR own body part if it offendeth etc. In the Old Testament, written in Hebrew originally, there are, by contrast, hundreds of references to hell and its derivations, all of them derived from the Hebrew and Greek word Gehenna (a temporary stopping place in Jewish religion and Kabbalah) and the word Hades (the Greek word for the underworld where things are held and born anew). Many scholars say 'hell' thereby means something else entirely that is pertinent not only to Jewish language hundreds of years BC, but the terms are not concrete, but mystical terms.

(Just watching the way language and meaning --in English-- has changed in a mere 10-20-40-60 years during our time, tells a good deal, I think, about how language morphs, drops old meanings, asigns new meanings, creates new words and especially new inferences and subtexts also.) Holding forth about "hell" seems to come 95% from the Old Testament (much of which was written 1200 years before Christ, and as late as 200 years before Christ.) By contrast, the new testament, if it still had some thin wisps of smoke left from the old testament teachings, is remarkably free of hell speeches and is in the uncontestable majority about healing, parables, love, mercy and peace.

archangel

Ghostdreams, deep thank you for your service to all of us.

Smart salute from a military wife. DH USAF, 21 years (ret) now working for VA processing prostheses for old and ever so young Vets.

I'm of your generation. I know the drill, when understanding of the sacrifice is lacking. Sometimes I wonder if that's because the other person, whomever they might be, have never been to front line red-sea war themselves nor ever spent years trying to repair the ravages after war. I think it's more understandable, the lack of understanding that is, when the other person has never enlisted or been drafted during wartime, never worked med evac, field OR, trauma unit, point man or somewhere as photog, supplier or other in the first three walls before you get to backup artillery and tank u's.

Some lifetime civvies certainly can, but I dont know that everyone can see the bigger picture of not only the various levels of discriminations in the military, including the c.officer/ nco system (another story for another time), including the don't ask, dont tell nonsense that treats all soldiers as though they have no honor nor discipline... if they dont have the cheek to cheek hashmarks, kwim?

Just a note too, am going to intro a group of WWII WOMEN pilots at an event very soon. I nursed some of those women back at Hines VA near Chi in the 1960s. You come Ghost from a long long line of proud women who served.

archangel

"...the "battle" is lost." let it bring peace then sparrow.

there is distant thunder currently re meaures to partition off those (by their request) who will not want to uphold some of the current and future laws of the land, for religious reasons. That may be an imperfect but workable idea, but it will also close off all government grants, and likely change tax exemptions for 501.c.3s as well. It wont be likely that the government will continue to subsidize. It may be a good example of how religion morphs and finds new emphases and lets go of others, right in our own time.

archangel

I remember when Marion Barry was in so so much trouble and was stripped of some office, and had a very deep cocaine addiction and all the mishandling of money that went with it. You might very well be onto something, as you're not the first to notice that many who abused 'serious drugs seriously'... long ago, seem to have some memory issues now, and some not being able to stay on point. I mean, lots of people are that way all their lives, without drug abuse. It's often a style amongst daydreamers.

But the difference in one who has taken too many drugs, seems to be that they cant remember, they cant stay on point no matter how much time is given to 'get it together and focus.' Whereas those who just sort of meander and forget, will remember and stay on point, if you ask them to slow down and focus.

There are small backwoods and mountain towns that seemed to be filled with many of my own generation who are walking-wounded in the former category, now that they are much older... and the long-term neural abuse meets aging brain, a double whammy. It may be so for prominent people too.

archangel

I think about that everyday... what is being placed as nourishment, as you say, 'for future generations'. From this house. This mind. This heart. The things within my reach.

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