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WATCH: Fauntroy Backtracks on Remarks at NOM Hate Rally

The National Organization for Marriage's summer hate tour sputtered to an end Sunday in Washington D.C. Walter E. Fauntroy, the Baptist minister who was the District's delegate to the House of Representatives for nearly 20 years, has opposed the capital's new marriage equality law and was one of the speakers that drew a crowd of ... tens.

Fauntroy went off-message and blamed Republicans for using gay rights and "marriage as a wedge issue", reports AMERICABlog's Joe Sudbay. "Fauntroy railed about how that gave us four more years of Bush and Cheney. I don't think Maggie [Gallagher] and Brian [Brown] expected one of their speakers to be bashing Republicans. During his speech, Fauntroy was yelling that he had something to say to gays and lesbians. Then he said, 'No one has right to impose their view of family on anyone else.' "

But isn't that what Fauntroy and others are trying to do? When questioned later, the veteran politician denied making the remark but was corrected by a reporter, watch it AFTER THE JUMP ...

Washington D.C. Marriage Equality Foes Appeal to Supreme Court

With less than 48 hours before the first same-sex marriage licenses will be granted in, marriage equality foes in Washington D.C. appeal to the Supreme Court to block the capital's new marriage equality law.

Court papers filed Monday with Chief Justice John Roberts argue that Washington residents should be able to vote on the matter. Local courts have rejected the opponents' arguments. The gay marriage opponents include a Baptist minister, Walter E. Fauntroy, who was Washington's delegate in the House for nearly 20 years.

Pam Spaulding adds that Fauntroy was once a close associate of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fauntroy also helped organize the historic 1963 March On Washington, one of the seminal events of the Civil Rights Movement\, and, ironically, its chief organizer was the openly gay Bayard Rustin.

Same-sex couples will be allowed to apply for marriage licenses on Wednesday. The three-business-day waiting period means they will not be able to begin marrying until March 9.

UPDATE: Supreme Court refused to stop the District of Columbia's new marriage equality law.