Photo by geraintwn

While the D.C. Council waits to vote a second time on legalizing same-sex marriage in the District, one local official is taking it upon himself to try and rally the opposition on Capitol Hill.

Bob King, a longtime ANC Commissioner from Ward 5 and proponent of a popular vote on same-sex marriage, sent all 535 members of Congress a letter late last week requesting that they step into the debate and force the city to place the issue on the ballot. As you may recall, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics has twice ruled that a ballot measure on legalizing same-sex marriage would violate the city’s Human Rights Act; gay marriage opponents have since filed a lawsuit to overturn the board’s most recent ruling.

Attached to the letter, King sent a one-page list of bullet points detailing why District residents should be allowed to vote on same-sex marriage. Beyond a number of procedural tactics he claims were used against opponents of same-sex marriage, King largely argues that leaving such a decision to the 13 members of the council is unfair. “There are 416,657 total registered voters in the District of Columbia NOT just 13 Council Members. They deserve the same right as the 31 states that have already voted on the definition of marriage,” he wrote.