It has been a so-so past couple of weeks for gay and lesbian equality in the metropolitan D.C. area, with news both good and bad happening on either side of the District. Virginia veered ever so slightly from the path to becoming the most anti-gay state in the Union, while Maryland managed to defeat two anti-gay bills in committee.

February was not a good month for gays and lesbians in Virginia, as the state Assembly approved a joint resolution calling for a ban on the recognition of same-sex marriage and any other forms of legal recognition of unmarried couples. The vote, on Feb. 26, came just days after the state’s House of Delegates approved a bill to repeal the state’s ban on domestic partnerships — which had made Virginia the only state to legally prohibit private employers from offering benefits to the their employee’s domestic partners. Five other anti-gay bills were defeated during the Assembly’s 2005 session, including bills to prohibit gays and lesbians from adopting or becoming foster parents, and to stop students from forming gay-straight alliances in schools. Republican Del. Robert Marshal (pictured) alone introduced four anti-gay amendments, including one that would have denied benefits from anyone belonging to a group from which the Red Cross refuses to accept blood donations. Well, at least he’s kinda clever.

Meanwhile, in Maryland, two bills aimed at limiting marriage to heterosexual couples died in committee, unmourned except for their supporters, who promise to resurrect both for the next session. One bill, a proposed constitutional amendment, would have defined marriage as between a man an a women. (Or, to paraphrase Marge Simpson, one person with a “hoo-hoo” and one with a “ha-ha.”)