DCist: Catania Confident in D.C. Gay Marriage Bill's Prospects

DCster

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:52:36 -0500

I'm more curious about tomorrow's vote count on the Nickels nomination after today's negative committee recommendation. Michael Brown was undecided on this point during a recent Ward 3 forum, but it looks like at least Alexander, Mendelson, and Cheh are against. Considering Nickels still hasn't found a place to call home within the borders of DC, I'd bet there are at least a few more 'no' votes out there.

Reid

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:31:12 -0500

We have already learned that, statistically, the black community is against same-sex marriage. And black community is the majority in DC; this fact will surely sway opinions about the case. Well count the votes: I think you can count on yes votes from the following CMs: Catania Graham Mendelson Evans Cheh Wells All you need is one more yes. (Of course had we elected Mara instead of Brown, he'd be the seventh vote). I think Bowser may be friendly to it. And Kwame Brown might recognize that a vote against it could lose him a lot of Ward 1,2, and 3 votes (although he'd have four years to mend fences) Who knows? Maybe no CM wants to be on the wrong side of history and all of them will vote for it, notwithstanding other considerations.

DCster

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:11:39 -0500

@ledroitist - I hear your point that Congress wouldn't have to vote on gay marriage per se, but isn't the typical process Congress uses to block the will of DC voters to hold up a vote on the federal payment to DC? I'm not as concerned about local support - after the recent backlash, I would doubt the LDS would be inclined to fundraise for new ads associating marriage equality with the teaching about same-sex marriage in schools. I think public disinformation played a large role in Prop 8's passage.

TX2DC

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:42:24 -0500

Why so confident? We have already learned that, statistically, the black community is against same-sex marriage. And black community is the majority in DC; this fact will surely sway opinions about the case. And this all strikes me as odd. I mean shouldn't black Americans understand the pain caused ignorance and bigotry more than anyone? I guess gay is the NEW black! Also agree with ces12, the ineptness and self-serving nature of the gay organizations (such as HRC) is sickening. HRC is a bunch of useless dimwits. We’ll see about this….

ledroitist

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:27:20 -0500

Blackcloud: There is no need for a vote. Congress wouldn't have to vote affirmatively for it, they just have to not affirmatively vote against it. Right, they don't have to vote at all. They don't even have to vote "present." There would be nothing to vote on, thereby sparing the "Blue Dogs." The leadership doesn't bring a bill to the floor, or allow an anti-DC-gay-marriage amendment to ride along on any other piece of pending legislation. The majority has broad discretion in the House, all they have to do is nothing, something Congress has a lot of practice doing. The clock runs out due to Congressional inaction and DC gets same-sex marriage. There is an argument for getting this out of the way ASAP, so it doesn't fuel the "culture wars" during the 2010 elections.

Reid

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:09:08 -0500

Blackcloud: There is no need for a vote. Congress wouldn't have to vote affirmatively for it, they just have to not affirmatively vote against it.

Blackcloud

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:22:01 -0500

I am also confident of my prospects of waking up tomorrow morning the richest man in the world. Seriously, does anyone think all those moderate-to-conservative House Dems representing districts Bush and McCain carried are ever going to vote for this? One of a president's chief political duties is to protect congressional representatives of his own party. Obama's no fool. He'd never put those so-called Blue Dog Dems in a position where they'd have to vote on this. Except for Dubya in '02, the president's party loses seats in his first midterm election. Putting this up for a vote will merely ensure they lose more than average. There were Democratic gains in the House, but not the kind to get Congress to approve any attempt by DC to legalize gay marriage.

downtownBLUE

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:39:50 -0500

Any true Republican in Congress would step aside and put the sticker of "state's rights" onto this issue if it passed and call it a day. Though, DC isn't a state and Republicans are namby-pamby-wannna-be-we-love-Rove-ites... Can I copyright that word?

ces12

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:11:31 -0500

Maybe if the HRC would get off it's lazy ass, stop throwing fundraising cocktail parties that give awards to such heroes as Lance Bass and only spending $3.4 Million while the Mormon community donated over $20 million Blame the blacks all you want, but I squarely blame the gay organization that is not spreading the message and educating/trying to persuade voters on this issue.

ledroitist

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:55:16 -0500

DC would be a first -- the first jurisdiction to enact gay marriage (eschewing the "civil unions" figleaf) via the legislative process, not through the courts. That would truly be an achievement. It would be interesting to see how that plays out via DOMA, which bars all federal recognition of same-sex marriage. Since DC is a de facto subdivision of the federal government, it could set up a potential court challenge to DOMA itself--and that would be a good thing, IMHO. The Dems in Congress can simply let a gay marriage bill become law. Unless both houses of Congress act affirmatively, DC Council bills become law after a set number of days that congress is in sesssion. Congress doesn't have to "approve" gay marriage, it just needs to sit on its hands. The minority can't do much about it, except fulminate.

EdTheRed

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:11:34 -0500

Hey man, the strike coding worked in the preview pane! There's supposed to be a line through "Warden Samuel Norton." Stupid html. It's like The Man, always keeping DC down.

EdTheRed

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:09:11 -0500

Warden Samuel Norton Congressman Don Young: Nothing passes. Nothing... or you will do the hardest time there is. No more protection from the Wingnuts. I'll pull you out of that one-bunk Hilton and cast you down with the Sodomites. You'll think you've been f*cked by a train! And the needle exchange program? Gone... sealed off, brick-by-brick. We'll have us a little hypo barbecue in the yard. They'll see the flames for miles. We'll dance around it like wild Injuns! You understand me? Catching my drift?... Or am I being obtuse? [beat] Congressman Young: [to Hadley] Give him another month to think about it.

HCE

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:58:17 -0500

That's all fine and dandy, but it's ironic and kind of sad that Catania's such a douche that nobody would EVER want to marry him.

Kev29

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:49:45 -0500

OK, this is kind of an interesting coincidence

RJ

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:46:57 -0500

This fact make this move much more risky for some council members: "70 percent – of black voters in California who voted for Proposition 8 and helped secure its passage, according to exit polling conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International."