Amid a heated discussion that lasted over an hour, Manhattan Beach City Council addressed Tuesday whether to sign a petition in support of marriage equality for same-sex couples.
The divisive issue, which brought out disparate opinions from both the community and the council, concluded with a motion to comprehensively review city policies and employee benefits to make sure same-sex couples are treated equally and afforded the same rights and benefits, as if they were allowed to be married under state and federal law.
This resolution comes in light of a letter received by Mayor Wayne Powell urging him to join the ranks of “Mayors for the Freedom to Marry,” a pledge that supports ending marriage discrimination at levels of government. So far, 289 mayors from 33 states—including the mayors of nearby cities Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Long Beach and Los Angeles—have signed the pledge.
Powell, who has declined to sign it, said that regardless of his personal views on the issue of same-sex marriage, this subject matter is outside the purview of city government.
“I’m against this council and certainly my capacity as mayor to endorse anything,” Powell said. “Our residents go to the ballet box and they decide. They should decide on these issues.”
“We’re not elected to decide state and federal issues,” he added. “That’s why we have the state senator, state assembly, member of congress and a U.S. senator.”
Resident John Kochowski echoed Powell’s belief, and said, “For the city council and the city to sign an endorsement of this, it’s just not right. Maybe we should have a resolution to endorse heterosexual marriages or interracial marriages.”
Council member Nick Tell, who has been championing the resolution, explained that this is one of the rare times when the city must take a stand due to the importance of the issue, one he believed to be a human rights issue.
“In the eight years I’ve been on council I’ve only brought up these types of issues two other times,” Tell said. “…That we recognize the fundamental basic rights of our citizens shouldn’t be that controversial or should not be out of the purview of what we do as council members.”
“We’re not saying we’re gonna go lobby the state senators and representatives,” he explained. “We’re simply making a statement, that we recognize fundamental rights for citizens and support marriage equality and freedom to marry.”
With an impending decision from the United States Supreme Court on whether to address California’s Proposition 8, council member Richard Montgomery and Mayor Pro Tem David Lesser both expressed hesitation about passing the motion Tuesday night.
“I think the better decision tonight is to defer making the decision on the proclamation until we at least know what the Supreme Court decides,” said Lesser, who said he personally supports the freedom to marry. “I’m concerned about institutional role.”
Council member Amy Howorth explained that when this issue first came to light, she too believed it was out of the council’s role to take a stance on the issue.
“Then I started getting emails … and I saw some rather unkind comments, some discriminatory comments,” Howorth said. “It made me see the need for this resolution. Because I felt that it is a human right, it’s a civil rights issue, and if there are people who still don’t feel that way, then I feel I have to show city staff that I want us to treat our people with equality and align our policies as such.”
“I want to be able to tell my children and everybody else that I took a stand on this,” she added.
