Senator threatens backlash for D.C.'s support of gay couples

A powerful antigay Republican senator threatened Washington, D.C.'s mayor on Thursday due to the District of Columbia's support for same-sex marriages, according to The Washington Post. Kansas senator Sam Brownback--the new chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the District--told Democratic mayor Anthony Williams that there would be a congressional backlash because the D.C. city attorney has issued a ruling that local gay and lesbian couples who were married in Massachusetts may file joint D.C. tax returns, the newspaper reported. "I was hopeful we weren't going to be confronting this issue. But it appears there will need to be a review and a discussion," said Brownback, 48, according to the Post. At a lunch with Post editors and reporters, Williams said the D.C. government "will have a decision soon" on the legality of filings but declined to say whether the district would recognize same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts.