Over the holiday, Stand For Marriage DC began running ads demanding a vote on the District's recently passed marriage equality legislation:
Traditional marriage advocates in the nation’s capital are seeking to roll back the city’s pending gay marriage law by forcing a voter referendum on the issue.
As part of the effort, conservative group Stand for Marriage D.C. has launched an ad campaign through the city’s transportation system – a move that is being opposed by Full Equality Now DC, which has demanded the ads be removed on the grounds that they disrespect LGBT residents.
The ads, which state "Let the People Vote on Marriage," are appearing on buses belonging to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and directing people to visit Stand for Marriage D.C.'s website, www.stand4marriagedc.com, where more information on their initiative is posted.
In a somewhat related development, right-wing activists in Iowa are also moblizing to pressure state legislators to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would overturn the state Supreme Court's ruling:
Traditional marriage advocates who demand a vote to amend Iowa's Constitution plan to leave their calling cards early and often during the 2010 legislative session.
Bryan English of Iowa Family Policy Council ACTION said pro-marriage supporters plan to be at the state Capitol en masse Jan. 12 when Gov. Chet Culver delivers his Condition of the State address to a joint session of the General Assembly with Iowa Supreme Court justices present.
The occasion, he said, will mark the first time that all three branches of state government are together in one building since a unanimous Supreme Court ruled April 3 that a state law defining marriage as between one man and one woman was unconstitutional - clearing the way for same-sex marriages in Iowa.
English said his group has been raising money and mobilizing average Iowans to get all 150 state legislators on the record where they stand on passing a resolution that would allow the people to vote on a constitutional amendment on the marriage issue. The effort intensifies when lawmakers convene their 2010 session next month.
"It's a good opportunity for Iowans to show their support for traditional marriage and their solidarity in working together to encourage those legislators to let us vote," English said.
"It's just average Iowans making a very clear statement - this issue has not gone away," he added. "Our passion about it is stronger than it maybe even was last April. Folks have had a chance to think about the implications of what's going on here and they're becoming more and more convinced here that the only remedy here is to let us vote."
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The Jan. 12 event is part of a "two days for marriage" that English said is designed to encourage average Iowans who support traditional one-man, one woman marriage to travel to Des Moines during the 2010 session to lobby their lawmakers to allow a vote on the marriage amendment.
"I would think that with that kind of a presence, legislators will know that every day there are going to be folks looking for them to talk about marriage and to ask them to provide them access to their constitutional right to vote on the definition of marriage," he said. "We expect them to either allow us that access or to get out of the way."
