When Kevin Johnson, a member of the City Council of Portsmouth, Ohio, sent an email to Mayor David Malone about joining a national campaign for marriage equality, he got back a short response that he found insulting, ignorant and undemocratic.
“As you are probably aware, when I ran for Council in 2009, certain elements in our community suggested that I would bring a “San Francisco gay agenda” to the forefront of my legislative goals,” Johnson wrote in an email reproduced in an article in the Portsmouth Daily Times. “And, as you are most definitely aware, such has not been the case. I have not once suggested any legislation in support of, nor have I encouraged any elected official to support, any gay cause, issue or proposition. Until now.”
Johnson then went on to describe a “Mayors for the Freedom to Marry” campaign that was launched last month, in which 80 prominent mayors pledged to push for marriage equality for same-sex couples.
Click here for gay wedding resources in Ohio.
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To mark the tenth anniversary of same-sex marriage in the Netherlands, the Mayor of Amsterdam has performed a ceremony to marry a male couple. Eberhaard van der Laan will also marry a female couple today.




