Last Tuesday, the city council of Washington DC, voted 12 to 1 to recognize same-sex marriages from the states that have now passed marriage equality laws - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Maine. There was just one council member who opposed the measure - former Washington DC mayor, Marion Barry. Yes, the same Marion Barry who is apparently now serving as the moral voice for several local African-American churches, and who:
* In 1989 was arrested for cocaine possession.
* In 1990 was caught in a FBI undercover sting, smoking crack with a girlfriend in a hotel room. Mr. Barry was charged with three felony counts of perjury, one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to possess cocaine, and ten counts of misdemeanor drug possession. The incident was caught on tape, and Marion "Sanctity of Marriage" Barry was, at the time, married to his third wife, Effi. He was sentenced to six months in a federal prison, and the audio from the videotape where Mayor Barry declares "Bitch set me up! I shouldn't have come up here. God damned bitch!" played a bazillion times on local, national, and international news.
* In 2005, after being investigated by the IRS, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of failing to pay local and federal taxes. The mandatory drug testing for the hearing showed that Marion "Moral Leader" Barry was still smoking crack, as well as marijuana. He was sentenced to three years probation.
* In 2006, Marion "There's Gonna Be a Civil War" Barry was stopped by police for stopping at a green light and then running a red light. The police officers smelled alcohol and administered a field sobriety test. Councilman Barry was taken in for a breathalyzer test, and a urine test. The police claim that the breathalyzer was giving inaccurate results and Marion "I Didn't Do It" Barry refused to take the urine test. He received tickets for running a red light, and refusing to submit to a urine sobriety test.
* In 2007, Marion "Between a Man and a Woman" Barry was fighting federal prosecutors who sought to have his probation revoked because he failed to file his 2005 income taxes. A U.S. Magistrate judge ruled that it had not been proved that he willfully declined to file.
* In February of this year, federal prosecutors again filed a motion to have Marion "Traditional Marriage" Barry's probation revoked - this time because he failed to file his 2007 income tax returns. According to one of the prosecutors, Councilman Barry has not filed his tax returns for 8 of the last 9 years.
The hyprocrisy of this man, and his ilk, is simply nauseating. But, here we have it - the people and voices of the movement against marriage equality.
And now, for a word from the pro-marriage equality camp....
