During the campaign candidate Adrian Fenty said he would release a memo prepared by the city's top lawyer that contained an opinion on whether the city can honor same sex marriages performed legally elsewhere. Many think the memo states that DC can honor such marriages, but the former mayor kept the memo's contents hidden. Fenty vowed to release it.
Fenty also said, according to the Washington Blade:
“I believe that the government should never discriminate against people because of who they are. The state should make it possible for every committed couple to obtain an official civil marriage with all of the legal rights and responsibilities that married heterosexual couples currently enjoy.”
After Blade editor Kevin Naff wrote an editorial in December reminding Fenty of these promises, Fenty received an email from Neil Richardson, deputy chief of staff for the Fenty transition team.
Of the email, Naff says:
In it, Richardson said Fenty would not turn his back on promises made during the campaign, “especially on important human rights issues such as same-sex-marriage rights.”That sounds good. But wait! the aide may have spoken out of turn. Naff reports that:He continued, “In our mind, this is a simple issue and it involves basic civil rights for thousands of District residents. We will release the findings of the legal memo prepared by Robert Spagnoletti [the author of the legal memo]."
Fenty has since told the Blade that he is only considering releasing the memo and is consulting with his new attorney general about how to handle the issue. Richardson has not returned Blade calls seeking comment on his e-mail. (emphasis added).
Promise? What promise? We don't need no stinkin' promises.
Fenty may yet do the right thing. But I've got a bad feeling about this. Read Naff's entire peice on the issue here.
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