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Groceries and Gospel (The Washington Post) 07/26/03 Mayor Williams and 10 Councilmembers opposed school vouchers in 1998 07/20/03 Anthony A. Williams responds to GLAA 2002 questionnaire 08/08/02 Williams Announces Two Appointments (The Washington Post) 11/08/01 Mayor appeals to key Senators on domestic partners, needle exchange 11/07/01 Howell writes Mayor Williams on inappropriate ceremonial proclamations 05/11/01 Mayor affirms non-discrimination policy for religious liaison 03/07/01 Mayor Williams Announces Anti-Discrimination Executive Order 10/03/00 Mayor Unleashes Keystone Kops Pearl Harbor Against GLAA/ACLU Amendments 12/07/99 Mayor Announces Decision to Implement Unique Identifier System 08/20/99 GLAA submits Tyra Hunter petitions to Mayor Williams 06/22/99 Gay leaders criticize Mayor's handling of incident over perceived slur 01/28/99 Rosendall to Williams & Ferren: drop Hunter appeal 12/29/98 |
GLAA to Williams: Don't welcome anti-gay bigots
Fighting for Equal Rights Since 1971
PO Box 75265
Washington, DC 20013
(202) 667-5139
July 26, 2003
Mayor Anthony Williams
Executive Office of the Mayor
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Mayor Williams:
We are disturbed by an article in the Saturday, July 26 edition of The Washington Post which reports that, according to Lafayette Barnes, director of partnerships and grants development in your office, you will be welcoming Assemblies of God delegates at the opening of their 50th General Council here in Washington on Monday. The same Washington Post article states that the General Council will hold a prayer rally on the Mall on Sunday, August 3, that will include participation by, among others, Representative Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) and Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS).
Representative Musgrave is a principal sponsor of the proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would prohibit extending equality of marriage rights and responsibilities to gays. In your response to the 2002 mayoral candidates questionnaire of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA), you stated: "I believe that a civil marriage should not be the purview of government to prohibit."
Representative Tiahrt has authored several anti-Gay riders to DC appropriations bills over the years, seeking to ban the adoption of children by unmarried couples and to prohibit the use of District as well as federal funds on needle exchange programs that are a proven weapon in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Again in your 2002 questionnaire response, you stated: "I believe that our nation is built around the guarantee of human rights for all our citizens and that we as leaders must stand up for those rights and hold others accountable to do the same. If individuals or organizations cannot meet the high standards of our DC Human Rights Law then we as a City should not be honoring them."
It is clear that the Assemblies of God is closely in harmony with the attitudes and policies of the so-called religious right, which is eager to divide the nation along religious and political lines to advance their own anti-social ideological agenda. It is equally clear that those they honor do not stand for the universal enfranchisement and tolerance that so many in the civil rights movement worked and struggled for so valiantly and successfully. Particularly in the month in which we honor the fortieth anniversary of the March on Washington and the legacy of leaders such as Bayard Rustin and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is inappropriate to give any sanction to bigotry, no matter how it may be clothed. We urge you to make it clear by your own actions that you consider anti-gay bigotry to be as far beyond the pale as racism, and decline to attend or welcome the Assemblies of God General Council and its associated events.
Sincerely,
Kevin Davis
President
