Blacks Crucial to D.C. Marriage Debate

The Associated Press examines the crucial role outreach to African-Americans has played in the debate over marriage equality in Washington, D.C., where the district council approved same-sex marriage in December. Unlike other locations where the marriage equality issue has become high-profile, Washington has a majority African-American population.

Same-sex couples in the District are expected to apply for marriage licenses beginning Wednesday, although opponents continue to challenge the new law and push for a voter referendum.

The AP spoke with community leaders such as Michael Crawford of D.C. for Marriage about the focus placed on African-American residents over the past year in the city of 600,000 residents. In the end, lawmakers, including five African-American members of the 13-member council, voted for the bill.

"Crawford, who is black, said other residents weren't ignored, but his group and others weighed the city's racial makeup in planning their message," reports the AP. "That made the debate here different than in other places that have considered gay marriage -- places like California, where about 7 percent of residents are black, or Maine, where 1 percent are. Voters in both states struck down gay marriage laws."

"To speak to voters in D.C., supporters drew parallels to Martin Luther King Jr.'s advocacy for equal rights," the AP continued. "They said same-sex marriage bans would one day seem as ridiculous as the interracial marriage bans overturned by the Supreme Court in 1967. Opponents, meanwhile, and ran an anti-gay marriage ad on the radio station of Howard University, a historically black college. And both sides worked hard to curry favor with black leaders and churches."