D.C. OK's Out-of-state Gay Marriage

The Washington, D.C., city council approved legislation 12-1 that would recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states and countries. If signed by Mayor Adrian Fenty, a marriage-equality supporter, the issue would then go to Congress, which has final oversight over the District's laws.

The single vote against the bill was cast by former D.C. mayor Marion Barry, now a council member, who had initially supported the measure. Barry said he had some "very agonizing and difficult conversations" about the issue. "I saw people demonstrating in the streets and I prayed," he said. "I have been a friend of (the LGBT) community and I will continue to be a friend. I don't want this (marriage vote) to be a litmus test, because if it's a litmus test, it's not a true friendship." Barry has marched in pro-LGBT parades, campaigned for LGBT support, and had previously pledged to vote for same-sex marriage when he was running for reelection.

Openly gay city council member David Catania responded, "This is about acknowledging our families as much as we acknowledge yours. If this is an issue of morality, I think it is immoral for you to be my friend on the one hand and on the other say, 'You are not entitled to the same rights and obligations as I am.'" Catania then suggested that saying one supports civil unions or domestic partnerships was just a way of saying, "I'm not that big of a bigot." He later apologized for the comment and clarified that he did not mean council member Barry was a bigot, but that his position was bigoted.

"I am your equal," Catania said. "I get up every day and serve the citizens of this city, just as you, and I deserve everything that you enjoy. I will not stop until I have that for every single resident of this city." Catania is one of two openly gay city council members; Jim Graham is the other.

Council member Yvette Alexander, an African-American woman who described herself as a Christian, noted that the Stonewall Democrats' D.C. chapter, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, had endorsed her based on the totality of her record in spite of the fact that she does not support same-sex marriage.

"So when I did not agree on that one issue, they did not negate all the good works that I had done. The ministers on the other hand," Alexander said, "the ministers have really upset me to the point that they have questioned my Christianity, they have questioned my morality." Alexander said some ministers had threatened to run a Christian against her in the next election.

Even though Alexander voted to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the district, she added, "I can honestly say I'm still at odds with the issue of gay marriage in the District of Columbia -- I still want to learn more about that issue. But I do know one thing, I do know that everybody is equal under God."

After the vote was taken, the packed council chambers emptied into a scene of mayhem in the hallway outside. People chanted, "Take it to the polls" and "We need a new council" while TV cameras swirled among the action. A young African-American man stared flatly at the display with seeming resignation and mumbled to his friend, "This shit breaks my heart every time I see it."