[Editor’s Note: Here is the affirmative statement the City Councilman gave Monday evening when Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells asked Council support to sign onto the amicus brief for President Obama’s pro-gay marriage case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Council vote was 4-0-1.]
I spent a lot of time wrestling with how to deal with this request.
As a local elected official, I see my role, first and foremost, as that of addressing local issues and dealing with basic local policy.
Ensuring quality police, fire and municipal services, promoting economic development in order to be able to afford those services and taking public positions on issues that directly impact, or may reasonably impact, this community.
We are told this isn’t one of those issues.
We are warned to be careful of that slippery slope.
It has been suggested that if we vote yes, we risk opening the floodgates to requests that this Council bring up votes on issues that have nothing to do with Culver City, like opposing the Keystone Pipeline or seeking to remove the word “corporation” from the definition of person.
Yes, I recognize that issues like these occasionally may distract us.
It has happened before.
Regardless of what we do tonight, it will happen again.
Many of you here tonight, spoke to the City Council in 2003, when it voted 3-2 to oppose unilateral, pre-emptive action against Iraq.
Look where that got us.
We are a small city.
We have limited resources ,and frankly, limited influence.
Positions we take do not carry the same weight as that of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.
That doesn’t mean we abdicate our principles.
It doesn’t mean we refuse to advocate on behalf of all of the community.
The Supreme Court is being asked to decide two basic constitutional questions:
Does the 14th Amendment include a right to marry for same-sex couples?
- Must states recognize same-sex marriages that took place in other states?
This is not a partisan issue, not Democrat vs. Republican, not liberal or conservative.
This is an issue about fundamental personal rights.
This is about fundamental civil liberties for all.
It is about where and how people will be able to live.
It is a matter of ensuring our Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection and due process to all citizens.
The issues affect me. They affect my family. They affect others in this community.
I will vote to support the Mayor signing the amicus brief.
