Superior Court Judge Judith Macaluso has upheld the city elections board’s decision to keep gay marriage off of the ballot.
In a 23-page decision [PDF] granting the Board of Elections and Ethics’ motion for summary judgment, Macaluso found that ballot initiatives are indeed subject to the city’s Human Right Act, and that the initiative filed by the Stand4Marriage coalition to define marriage as between a man and a woman violates that act.
Additionally, Macaluso addressed whether the landmark 1995 Dean v. District case, which prohibited gay marriages at the time, still applies. The D.C. Council, she writes, “changed the landscape Dean surveyed” and thus “Dean is no longer controlling.”