The same-sex marriage bill currently before the D.C. Council passed its first formal hurdle today, as the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary voted to move the bill on to the full council for debate (see more at D.C. Wire). The committee approved the bill by a 4 to 1 vote; Council member Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) was the lone dissenter. Before voting, the committee altered the bill’s language to remove a provision that…

The D.C. Council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary may have just spent two long days hearing public testimony on the same-sex marriage bill for no good reason. A draft report coming out of the committee and currently being circulated to the rest of the council argues that marriage equality already exists in the city, and a law legalizing it isn’t much more than a formality. “In recognizing same-sex marriage in the District,…

Photo by mosley.brian At last, we have the details on the D.C. Council committee hearing on the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009, aka, the same-sex marriage bill that members of the D.C. Council, led by David Catania (I-At large), did indeed introduce this morning. The Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary will hold a public hearing the bill at 3:30 p.m. on October 26 in the 5th Floor…