Mayor, council members protest gay marriage ban at swearing-in
(Published Wednesday, April 18, 2007 10:26:48 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Ryan J. Foley Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - The mayor and half the city council denounced the state's new ban on gay marriage Tuesday by adding a strongly worded statement to their oath of office in the first protest of its kind in the nation.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and 20 city council members elected April 3 raised their right hands and vowed to uphold the state and federal constitutions and the city charter during a midday ceremony at City Hall.
But then Cieslewicz and 10 council members opted to sign a statement saying they took the oath under protest because the ban on gay marriage and civil unions approved by 59 percent of voters in November "besmirches our constitution."
They vowed to work to minimize the ban's impact and overturn it in the future.
"I cannot in good conscience take office without noting my strong opposition to the recent amendment that so blatantly discriminates against my fellow Wisconsinites who are gay or lesbian," Cieslewicz said to applause after being sworn in to a second four-year term.
Gay rights groups have said they believe Madison is the first city to allow elected and appointed officials to add a statement to their oath to protest a gay marriage ban.
Dane County, whose board meets at the same building as the council in downtown Madison, will consider whether to follow suit on Thursday.
Cieslewicz said he respected the statewide vote that added two sentences to the constitution declaring that marriage is between one man and one woman and that the state cannot recognize other relationships.
But he said the same process would one day be used to reverse the amendment and "give all of us exactly the same right to marry, raise a family, and be full members of our communities." The mayor is straight and married.
Seventy-six percent of the liberal voters in the state's second largest city rejected the amendment, but it easily passed across the state nonetheless.
Smarting from the election results, the council agreed in January to let the mayor, city council and hundreds of people who serve on city commissions and boards to add the statement if they wished.
The action came after a gay rights activist resigned from his post on the Equal Opportunity Commission rather than swear to uphold the state constitution.
The oath itself cannot be changed under state law and supporters emphasized the supplemental statement was a symbolic protest.
But the plan drew criticism not only from conservatives who oppose gay marriage but scholars and others who said it was inappropriate to tinker with the oath of office.
The uneasiness was evident even Tuesday when several council members who opposed the ban nonetheless declined to sign the statement.
The most notable refusal was newly elected council member Eli Judge, an openly gay University of Wisconsin-Madison sophomore who led a group of students in organizing opposition on campus to the gay marriage ban.
Judge said the statement set a dangerous precedent, writing on his blog that conservative cities could one day use the same process to oppose gay marriage if it became legal.
In an interview, he said: "I just have personal reservations about adding that to the oath."
Mike Verveer, who also is openly gay and was elected council president Tuesday, said he pushed for members to privately sign the statement rather than reading it out loud so that those who declined weren't branded anti-gay bigots.
Verveer, a council member since 1995, said he took the oath "with a heavier heart today" as a result of the ban.
"Because of that, it was some relief to be able to sign the supplemental statement," he said. "But it's a personal decision for each one of us."
