DC to recognize same-sex marriages from other states

I'll enjoy it while I can

Being a resident of the Nation's Capital is something of a rollercoaster ride.  As soon as the elected city council passes legislation that the vast majority of city residents want, a bunch of Congressmen swoop in and change the rules to their liking.

I'm afraid that recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere won't last very long.  But I've decided to simply enjoy the day ...

Taxation without Representation, anyone?

"There are two kinds of people in this world -- the kind who separate the world into two kinds of people, and those who don't."  -- Gloria Steinem

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by: red7eric @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:22:22 PM CDT

What is the ethnic make of the City Council?

I'm asking only because I lived there during crackhead marion Berry's first tenure as Mayor, so I know how the DC demographics work. What are the chances of SSM passing there?

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by: kevinchi @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:25:17 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It's a diverse council

Seven of the 13 members of the DC City Council are African-American, which almost mirrors the city's population.  Two councilmembers are openly gay men, and they are well-liked by their peers.

I'd say the chances of same-gender marriage passing are remarkably good, given that today's vote was unanimous.  The chances of a bunch of Congressmen (none of which were voted into office by DC residents) allowing the District to make its own rules in this area is debatable.

"There are two kinds of people in this world -- the kind who separate the world into two kinds of people, and those who don't."  -- Gloria Steinem

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by: red7eric @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:34:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

are either of the gay men

non-white?

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by: Lurleen @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:40:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

even if they aren't there are

MORE than enough non-white gay men in DC. DC was the black gay capital of America when I lived there 20 years ago. I doubt that it's changed.

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by: kevinchi @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:41:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

yeah, i'm just hoping that

at least one of the two most public gay men in DC aren't white, for the usual reasons of heading off the "gay is a white thing" crap that you know will come out of this.

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by: Lurleen @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:46:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

oh, no, not in DC

I mean, when I lived there, I found the gay scene to be highly segregated racially but it was centered in NW DC with 14th St. as the dividing line. East of 14th street was a huge black gay population. west of 14th Street was a huge white gay population.

I lived right on 14th St.  

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by: kevinchi @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:50:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

No, they're both white ...

Catania is of Italian descent and has olive skin, but for all intents and purposes, they are two white men.  

"There are two kinds of people in this world -- the kind who separate the world into two kinds of people, and those who don't."  -- Gloria Steinem

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by: red7eric @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:57:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

oh, well...as I said

that won't be a problem in DC, though...unless the demographics have changed quite a bit since I lived there.

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by: kevinchi @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:02:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

but the mayor who is black

is very pro-marriage equality. I would marry that hot brotha my damn self!

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by: kevinchi @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:11:24 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

LOL, nice!

Adrian Malik Fenty is indeed quite a cutie. And he wears a fedora!

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

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by: Keori @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:51:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Although Congress did that

right after Barry was arrested (I wasn't in the District by then). Still, a dem Congress is very unlikely to do that.

I only ask because...well, I know how the church culture there can be...

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by: kevinchi @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:40:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

All Council members are at least in favor of Civil Unions

And we have had a significant majority of the council supportive of full marriage rights for quite a while. I believe a couple of Council members (including Barry, if I'm not mistaken) have expressed concerns about full marriage rights, but the law would pass tomorrow if introduced. There was some thought of waiting until Congress adjourned before passing the law, because of the review process explained so well by mitch wood below.

The really good news is that the law limits the ability of anyone to get a voter referendum in a really complicated way that the Blade recently covered (can't remember the details myself).

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by: CPT_Doom @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 19:05:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

OMG, take the poll

When you link to the Washington Post story (above), take the poll.  The results as of 2:23 ET were fairly astounding.

"There are two kinds of people in this world -- the kind who separate the world into two kinds of people, and those who don't."  -- Gloria Steinem

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by: red7eric @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:23:46 PM CDT

89%!!!!

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by: kevinchi @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:26:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Wow! Those are some astounding numbers.

Turns out I voted with the majority 89 percent. ;)

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by: Margaret @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:03:17 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Vermont became the fourth state???

I reject that assessment.  I felt the same way last week when Iowa become the third.  

Let's not revise history because bigoted supremacists and divorced droolers dragged their knuckles to the ballot box last fall in California.

California was the second state, Connecticut the third, Iowa the foruth and Vermont the FIFTH to acknowledge that same sex couples have the right to expect equal protections.

The religiously fanatical, sheepishly fearful and willfully ignorant electorate chose to punish a minority group in California but it came AFTER our rights were identified.  

Don't let Prop 8 take away anything more than the bigotry it fomented.

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by: Patrick @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:35:29 PM CDT

Really good news

This is really good news, although I remain cautiously optimistic. Does this mean the Mormons will descend on D.C. now? And Vermont? And Iowa?  

SusanGabriel
www.susangabriel.com

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by: SusanGabriel @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:51:28 PM CDT

I hope they descend on Vermont with a vengence

because they have zero chance of making headway there.  Let them exhaust themselves somewhere where they're toothless. ;)

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Lurleen on Twitter.

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by: Lurleen @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:55:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I hope so

The part of me that's recovering from being abused and tortured by mormons my whole life wants to see more families waste their life savings and kids' college tuition funds on fights they can't win.

Vermont isn't a referendum state. The soonest this could go on the ballot in Iowa is 2012 (Con Con question comes up in 2010). And D.C. has a battle in that Congress approves the city's laws under Home Rule. But we'll get there.

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

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by: Keori @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:00:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Keep it comin'

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:53:55 PM CDT

There is an excellent video up

Over at PageOneQ which is of Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal speaking on the floor and refusing to sign on as a co-sponsor of a marriage ammendment in Iowa. Very simple, very profound and it sums the situation up perfectly with "You don't realize that you've already lost". It is a thing to behold and enjoy.

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by: Margaret @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:00:25 PM CDT

Beautiful

What a beautiful speech. Yes people....the fundies will go down kicking and screaming.... but they have already lost.

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by: CarbonGirl @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:24:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I like this snowball!

with the added bonus of watching fundies heads implode every day this week. . . .who's next?

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by: ggw59 @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:16:40 PM CDT

Tony Perkins reacts (apolpectically)

WASHINGTON, April 7 PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Family

Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins today condemned the vote of the Vermont State Legislature to overturn the Governor's veto on same-sex "marriage" as well as the vote by the District of Columbia City Council to recognize same-sex marriages performed in the 50 states.
Same-sex 'marriage' is a movement driven by wealthy homosexual activists and a liberal elite determined to destroy not only the institution of marriage, but democracy as well. Time and again, we see when citizens have the opportunity to vote at the ballot box, they consistently opt to support traditional marriage," said Perkins.

"The vote today by the D.C. City Council was a direct affront to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The radical Left wants to destroy the traditional union of one man and one woman across the country and they will not rest until they do so.

I tell you Chica that no greater abomination exists than women denying their spirit of sisterhood and instead becoming the oppressor. -Rebeca, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

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by: MauraHennessey @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:36:10 PM CDT

So it's not "judicial activists"

When they can't blame "judicial tyranny", they blame "wealthy homosexual activists." You mean like the wealthy christofascist activists who donated $20,000 to christian hate groups in my state?

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

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by: Keori @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:55:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Review, not approval

A point of order--the way things work here in the last colony--all legislation passed by the DC City Council is subject to a 30 day Congressional review period. So, outright approval or disapproval is not necessary. All we need is for Congress is to sit there and do nothing. (And given how are accomplished our legislative branch is in that regard, we may have the upper hand.)

It is not the end of the road, the struggle for marriage equality for DC citizens directly will continue, but this is an important advance, nevertheless. I am grateful to all the councilmembers who supported this, including several who represent wards where the LGBT community is neither as visible nor vocal as in some neighborhoods.

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by: mitch wood @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 15:21:51 PM CDT

What-what-what??

OMG... what a DAY!

That does it; the kids are riding the damned bus from now on.

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by: Louise @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 15:58:45 PM CDT

Constitutional Convention-Iowa

This could put a real damper on things here.  It was in the front cover article of the Des Moines Register today.  They have figured out how to get around the long waiting period to a referendum vote.  

After a brief schooling about it from a law prof tonight, it sounds pretty scary.  If the people okay it for reasons of wanting an amendment on same-sex marriage, all sorts of other crazy things could be put into the constitution depending on how the congress decides on the delegates.  Does any other state have this crazy thing?  I'm not originally from Iowa and it seems insane.

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by: francaisejolie @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 21:42:35 PM CDT

We have it here in Illinois

It comes up about once every 10 years or so. There was talk of bringing it up for a Constitutional Amendment banning same sex marriage but it caught no traction and was defeated.

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by: kevinchi @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 21:59:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

On the other hand, in the "be careful what you wish for" department...

the one man-one woman crowd might get more than they bargained for.

"I'm inclined to hope they succeed, if that's their strategy," said Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, who has saluted Friday's Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. "There's a lot of good, progressive issues that we could pursue: a woman's right to choose, guaranteed health care for all Iowa citizens, workers' rights - so if there are people that want to help us get to a constitutional convention, that's kind of my dream world."
http://www.desmoinesregister.c...

I really like the way Mike Gronstal goes about his business.  And seriously, there are a lot of conservative folks who won't think its a great idea to be tinkering with the constitution.  The last such convention in Iowa was in 1857.  The Register covers the issue pretty well in the link above.

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by: Pollyanna @ Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 00:20:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

thanks!

thanks Pollyanna, I hadn't seen that article yet.  It's a good perspective.  It'll be good to see what the IFPC has to say about it.

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by: francaisejolie @ Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 07:05:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]