WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three North Carolina Republican U.S. House members have co-signed an amicus brief in D.C. Superior Court, urging the court overturn a previous ruling against a voter referendum on marriage in the district.
In the filing, Republican Reps. Virginia Foxx (N.C.-05), Walter Jones (N.C.-03) and Patrick McHenry (N.C.-10) joined 37 other GOP pols, including House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), asking the court to reverse a D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics decision prohibiting a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage.
The D.C. City Council and Mayor Adrian Fenty passed and signed a marriage equality bill into law in December. The legislation is currently under a 30-day Congressional review period. Advocates do not expect federal legislators to take up the issue.
In October, Foxx, Jones and McHenry previously teamed up on another anti-gay matter. They joined Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa, 5th District) and 49 other House members calling for the firing of openly gay Obama Education Department appointee Kevin Jennings. Other Carolinas pols also signed onto that letter, including Republicans Reps. Sue Myrick (N.C.-09) and Henry Brown (S.C.-01).
Well of course McHenry would sign the letter, too many rumors about too many strapping young men automatically requires him to beef up his “strictly hetero” credentials at every opportunity.
I think the more amazing part of this story is that such a small percentage of all the Republicans in Congress signed the letter.