DC Gays & ACLU: Anti-Marriage Bus Ad Campaign Should Stay

An anti-gay marriage ad campaign on DC's buses should be allowed to remain, says the ACLU and a gay rights group.

It all started with a tweet on Twitter, as so many things do. Someone from a little-known gay rights group called "Full Equality Now DC" sent a Tweet demanding Metro take down ads the group considered offensive. The ads, which read "Let the people vote on marriage," were bought by a Christian coalition called "Stand For Marriage DC." The group opposes gay marriage and wants to hold a city referendum on the issue. "If it's not lewd, pornographic or obscene then the ad will go up," says Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. "Advertising on the Metro system is covered by the same First Amendment rights that cover other such communications in our society today."

The ACLU agreed -- as did a major gay rights group in D.C. called the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, or GLAA. They put together a coalition of civil liberties groups and sent a letter to Metro telling it to keep the ads. "We are defending our own liberties," GLAA spokesman Rick Rosendall said. "We're defending our own rights. To start carving away at America's Bill of Rights is the absolute opposite of what we should be doing."

The campaign is scheduled to end today. It's not clear if Stand For Marriage will renew their contract.