The reason it stalled in the first place was that the NRA and their allies attached an amendment to the Senate bill that would strip remaining gun safety laws out of the District's books. Since Heller, which did away with DC's handgun ban, DC officials rightfully enacted stringent requirements in order to get a handgun, including demonstrating knowledge of firearms use and DC laws, completing a firearms safety course including at least four hours of instruction, fingerprinting, submitting photographs, background check, and others (and speaking as a resident, I'm grateful for these restrictions).
According to the WaPo, Congresswoman Norton and Dem leaders have been negotiating to weaken the amendment, and are prepared to move forward with the bill rather than throw it out due to the gun language. The underlying concerns, of course, are (a) next year we won't have the votes for DC voting rights at all (b) as Norton says, the strength of the NRA makes it likely that local gun laws will be weakened sooner or later with or without a voting rights bill vehicle (c) the Census could undermine the deal, as Utah is set to get an extra seat, but that seat would go to the state next in line under the Census.
No doubt, this last element plus the weakening of the gun language has prompted Sen. Hatch to threaten a filibuster, ostensibly for the reason that the new seat would be elected on a statewide rather than a district basis.
The other interesting element is that DC Council Chairman Vincent Gray, who is running in a primary against Mayor Fenty, opposes the deal, while Fenty supports it. I wrote earlier that this is a primary based on more on style and substance, and this could inject one big substantive issue into the conversation.
Today was the first day same-sex couples could apply for marriage licenses at the Superior Courthouse in the District of Columbia. Couples started lining up in the wee hours of the morning. Below is a picture of Sinjoyla Townsend and Angelisa Young, the first couple to obtain their marriage license:
h/t to Cathy Renna for the photo
By 11:30 AM, over 100 couples had applied for marriage licenses and the clerk said she was processing 20-25 per hour. The language was changed to "I now pronounce you legally married" instead of "I now pronounce you man and wife". Kudos to HRC, GLAAD and Renna Communications for providing media assistance on the ground to spread the word about how the nation's capital is now providing equality to all.
For those counting, this now makes DC the sixth jurisdiction in which same-sex couples currently have the freedom to marry, along with Iowa, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. Previous same-sex weddings performed in California between June and November 2008 have also been ruled legally valid, and in states like New York and (moving forward) Maryland, out-of-state weddings are legally valid. More and more states are recognizing marriage is about love, and today's couples show that once again. Congrats to all the couples.
Tomorrow morning, the law legalizing same-sex marriage equality in the District of Columbia will take effect, having completed the Congressional review period without incident. That means at 8:30 AM tomorrow, same-sex couples will begin applying for marriage licenses at the DC Superior Court Marriage Bureau (expect long lines). Tuesday, March 9th will be the first day couples can legally receive their licenses and wed. Opponents have filed a last-ditch stay to the Supreme Court, but after four lower court rejections, legal experts tell me there is a very slim chance the Supreme Court will intervene.
Here in town, I've seen ads all over the place aimed at same-sex couples; wedding planning consultants; restaurants and hotels advertising their banquet spaces; flowers and more. One argument that I think is too-often underused is the economic impact of marriage equality. The marriage industry is a multi-million dollar industry. The Williams Institute at UCLA Law School put out a report last year estimating that DC marriage equality would result in $52.2 million economic spending in spending over three years, creating an estimated 700 jobs. That doesn't include $5.4 million in new revenue from things like sales taxes and license fees. Based on tourism data, the Williams Institute estimates over 10,000 couples will come from all over the country to get married in the nation's capital. Restaurants, hotels, and small businesses like flower shops will all appreciate the new business, especially in a recession. It's like a small stimulus shot in the arm for the area.
This has been a long time coming, and local activist Rick Rosendall has a piece naming a number of key folks who have laid the groundwork, and a bit on the legislative and legal strategy that has been going on for years. A number of them are very close friends and extremely strategic activists, and deserve a big h/t.
If you are a couple involved in politics (Hill staffers, local activists, etc.) and are applying for a license tomorrow, a few reporters have reached out looking to talk to same-sex political couples who planned to be married. Drop me a line at adambink at gmail dot com if you're interested (and congrats!).
I'm mentioned it offhandedly in a few places here, but we here in DC are quietly moving forward with our own bill on marriage equality. For a little background, DC is a city of about 590,000 people, governed by a 13-member city council, five of whom are from at-large seats, and a popularly elected mayor. Legislation passed by the Council and signed by the Mayor must go for a Congressional review period where it can be overturned. Congress can also screw with our laws by denying funding since our appropriations bill must go through Congress (this has been used in the past by Republicans to, for example, deny DC funding to implement our legislatively-passed needle exchange program).
But, most of the news I have is very good. I heard some final details last night from two colleagues taking point on this, legislatively speaking.
The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 will be introduced on October 6th. 10 of the 13 DC Council members are co-sponsors, and while I'm extremely doubtful we'll get to a unanimous vote, we should get very close. A hearing will be held in late October, with a vote to follow.
Mayor Fenty has repeatedly stated he will sign the bill.
The bill will then go to Congress for a 30-day Congressional review period. The 30 days can stop and start depending on when Congress is in session, and timing of when legislative days start etc. so we expect this to last about two months, more or less. We're working with the Democratic leadership to do our best and make sure there are not opportunities for votes to overturn it, but anything is far from certain.
We currently have a comprehensive domestic partnership law for same-sex and opposite-sex couples in the city. One provision in the bill would end the right of same-sex and opposite-sex couples to register for new domestic partnerships, which I oppose, as there are some- sisters who live together, for example- who would choose to register under such an arrangement for multiple purposes, even with marriage. I also know gay couples who simply do not agree with the concept of "marriage", but deserve legal protections. I would like to see this provision stricken.
Regarding a ballot initiative, Bishop Harry Jackson, the local major domo homophobe (who actually lives in Beltsville, MD), has filed a request with the Board of Elections and Ethics to collect signatures for an initiative to ban marriage equality. The good news is that his last request (a few months ago) was denied on the grounds that it violates the District's Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination of the sort. Multiple sources have told me it is almost certain the BOEE will do the same this time.
Having marriage equality in DC would not only be an incredible accomplishment for DC's LGBT couples (DC has one of the highest percentages of LGBT individuals of any metropolitan area in the country), but would be hugely symbolic to have it in our nation's capital.
DC for Marriage, one of the groups I've been working with taking the lead on the ground all summer long, will continue to do so throughout the fall. Even if you don't live in DC, you can sign up for their e-mail list and join their Facebook group (the Facebook organizing is particularly great). Even better, ask your friends who live here or in suburban VA or MD to do so.
Harvey Milk used to get into intra-movement battles over whether to push openly gay candidates or straight ally candidates with his nemesis in San Francisco gay politics, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic club. The Toklas' Club philosophy was to work closely with straight allies, not antagonize anybody, and endorse straight candidates for seats on the Board of Supervisors, cautiously believing gay candidates- especially ones with Milk's politics and methods- could never win and that the city wasn't ready for them. Milk, who was refused the Toklas Club endorsement in his first race for Supervisor in 1975, his race for an Assembly seat in 1976, and his second race for Supervisor in 1977 (the latter because Rick Stokes, a strong openly gay ally of the Club, was running) was so frustrated with the Toklas Club methods that he formed his own organization, the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club, after losing his Assembly race.
But Harvey was living in a time when there were no major pieces of pro-LGBT legislation, no strong advocates on the Board of Supervisors, and no openly LGBT elected officials in the country. Today, all of that's changed.
I'm thinking about all of this because here in DC, Clark Ray, an openly gay candidate, is running against an incumbent Councilman Phil Mendelson, perhaps the strongest ally of the LGBT community and a straight man. It gets at the heart of what Milk stood for, and choices we need to make as a movement. Yet Ray is, as I see it, making three arguments for his candidacy, all of which are unstrategic and unpersuasive. I examine them on the flip.
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