Photo by staceyviera.

During yesterday’s legislative meeting, D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh introduced a piece of legislation which would allow notary publics to conduct marriage ceremonies in the District. The bill — which Cheh, along with Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and David Catania (Ind.-At-Large), previously introduced last year — seems like a pretty common sense thing for the city to do. But not everyone on the Council is on board.

Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) told the Washington Times that she thought that that the law would subject the District to liability because notaries would be forced to perform marriage ceremonies or face lawsuits. And Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was quick to play the sanctity card, saying that the removal of law and religion from marriage “diminishes the ceremony.”

But the integrity of the ceremony hasn’t stopped several other states, including Massachusetts, Florida and Maine from allow notaries to solemnize matrimony. The bill would make it a whole lot easier for same-sex couples to get hitched, not to mention people who don’t really care about the religious aspects of marriage or those who don’t want to spend weeks waiting for a wedding day inside a courtroom. (It feels appropriate to note here that both Barry and Alexander voted against the law legalizing gay marriage in the District.) And really, why should the government care whether the person signing off on marriage paperwork is affiliated with a church or a court, so long as they’re qualified to sign off on other important paperwork?