Tuesday, October 6, 2009

DC Council Introduces Marriage Equality Bill

"Show your friends across the sea/It's a fair dance"


On Tuesday, October 6, the Council of the District of Columbia introduced legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry, the New York Times reports. The bill is expected to pass, but it could be subject to congressional override, setting up the prospect of potentially uncomfortable votes for Democrats in Congress, which under Republican "leadership" had for a decade (until 2002) barred DC from spending federal or local money to implement the District's domestic partnership law. If Congress manages not to intervene, it will be powerfully symbolic to see marriage equality come to the nation's capitol, in stronger form than merely recognizing valid marriages performed in other jurisdictions. Now if Congress would repeal DOMA!