Martin made the case yesterday that playing up the racial divisions within our city when it comes to same-sex marriage was misleading, especially when considering how the Ward 8 Democrats recently voted to support marriage equality legislation, despite opposition from their D.C. Council member.

Well it looks like things got a little more heated at last night’s Ward 5 Democrats meeting. The D.C. Democratic Party released some video of the discussion/near-shouting match that led up to an 87-51 vote against same-sex marriage. That’s a massive turnout for any Ward party meeting, and it’s clear that the same group of ministers who organized last month’s Wilson Building rally are targeting Ward 5 D.C. Council member Harry Thomas, Jr. as a potential “no” vote on broader marriage equality legislation.

The video shows a series of impassioned speeches before the vote, alternating between gay Ward 5 Democrats and religious black Ward 5 Democrats, until the whole thing starts to fall apart and both D.C. Democratic Party chair Anita Bonds and Gertrude Stein Club president Jeff Richardson were forced to stand up and remind everyone to keep things civil.

Along with Ward 8, the Democratic committees of Wards 2 and 4 have already met to approve similar resolutions.