In their coverage of the Capital Pride Festival, which kicked off yesterday and will culminate in a parade and street festival this weekend, the Post gives an account of a town hall meeting on GLBT issues last night at Studio Theatre where Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) said he plans to introduce a bill legalizing gay marriage in the District within the next two years. Graham appeared on the panel with several other openly gay elected officials, including Virginia Del. Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria), Maryland Del. Heather R. Mizeur (D-Montgomery), and who we assume was Council member David Catania (I-At large), though the story doesn’t mention him by name.
Planning to introduce legislation “within two years” is the kind of far-reaching promise that’s easy to back away from later — political climates or circumstances can always change. Graham is also couching his plans in a position that makes the gay marriage issue something on which Mayor Adrian Fenty would need to act first. From the Post:
But first, Graham said, he wants Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) to release a legal opinion on whether the District recognizes same-sex marriages officiated in other states. Former D.C. attorney general Robert Spagnoletti, who served in the Anthony A. Williams administration, prepared an opinion, but it was never made public.
Efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in the District have been highly controversial. Some gay and lesbian activists have said they fear advocacy could bring a congressional backlash. Graham, who has expressed such concerns in the past, said that the majority-Democratic Congress has changed his outlook.
And really, who can forget the lovely message Sen. Sam Brownback sent our fair city (R-Kan.) the last time this came up in 2005? If we remember correctly, it was something like “try to legalize gay marriage and I’ll personally sodomize each and every one of you.” But could this, like the ban on District spending for needle exchange programs we mentioned in the roundup this morning, be one more issue the District could theoretically make up its own mind about now that Democrats control Congress?
