Today, the D.C. Council sent a bill legalizing gay marriages in the District to the full council for a Dec. 1 vote. And during committee discussion today, there seemed to be little willingness to compromise on the ancillary issue of the day: whether the bill would cause the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington to withdraw from social service programs.

The archdiocese's issue seems to come down to two issues: adoptions to same-sex couples (which are already legal, as it happens), and mandated employee benefits for same-sex spouses of archdiocese employees.

As WaPo's Tim Craig reports, neither of the bill main sponsors, Phil Mendelson or David Catania, are budging on the issue. Said Mendo: "The way this issue has been approached by the archdiocese in the past week was tantamount to drawing a line in the sand and it may be hard for them to show some flexibility." Catania went on to ask how the archdiocese could give employee benefits to "fornicators and adulterers" but not gay couples.

LL's quick thought: Isn't this yet another argument for abandoning the already problematic employer-based health insurance model? Why should the institutional policies of an employer, subject to religious/moral/political dealings, affect the well-being of employees and their families?

Discuss.

D.C. Wire just posted on this, but this document is just too good not to share more fully.

At-Large Councilmember David Catania today posted a letter to Robin Fretwell Wilson, law professor at Washington & Lee University, who has made it her job, as of late, to join the public debate in jurisdictions considering same-sex marriage, stumping for broad exemptions to discrimination laws for those who have religious objections to the practice.

Recently, she testified at a D.C. Council hearing on gay marriage and also wrote a Washington Post op-ed advocating for stronger protections against religious discrimination. In her council testimony, Wilson cited a flurry of federal case law to support her positions. Catania proceeded to actually look up the cases. If you come at Catania, you best come correct. Wilson, it seems, did not.

You can read the letter in full [PDF]. In fact, please do. Text is also pasted after the jump.

Read More "David Catania Smacks Down Anti-Gay-Marriage Law Prof" »

Today, the D.C. Wire reported that a five-member council delegation met with Mayor Adrian Fenty last night to discuss the standoff over Ximena Hartsock. A symbol of testy council-mayoral relations, Hartsock is Fenty's choice to helm the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation. Following some discord among the council, Hartsock, and Fenty, however, the council voted against confirming Hartsock. The mayor responded by keeping Hartsock in place.

According to a source familiar with the meeting, the prevailing sentiment among the councilmembers in attendance (Chairman Vincent Gray and councilmembers David Catania, Mary Cheh, Harry Thomas Jr., and Muriel Bowser) was that Hartsock had to go.

Fenty, according to the source, assured that he was looking for her replacement but stressed that the search wasn't an easy one. The meeting ended with a promise: The mayor would replace Hartsock by Dec. 1, the source recalls.

Still, Fenty still couldn't help being Fenty.

Read More "Fenty Promises To Replace Hartsock By Dec. 1" »

In testimony before the D.C. Council today, Bishop Harry Jackson namechecked Martin Luther King and his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" in talking about his opposition to gay marriage. Jackson quoted King: "A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a people, that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, have no part in enacting or devising the law."

That, of course, was a reference to Jackson's quest to have a citywide vote on gay marriage. He said, "I believe the people of the District of Columbia have suffered an injustice by being ignored already, and you're about to do that again....There is an advisory referendum that you could endorse---why don't you do it?"

At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania, author and lead introducer of the bill, was ready to pounce.

Read More "David Catania Gives Harry Jackson a History Lesson" »

A bill to permit gay marriages in the District of Columbia will be introduced to the D.C. Council on Tuesday, At-Large Councilmember David Catania announced tonight.

Catania made the announcement in front of more than 200 members of the GLBT community gathered at the True Reformer

"We are going to do it now," he said. Catania will introduce the bill with nine co-sponsors. Also in attendance are Michael Brown, Phil Mendelson, and Tommy Wells.

In this week's column, LL spun a scenario whereby the D.C. Council might approve a same-sex-marriage referendum. That best-case hypothetical situation for gay-marriage opponents, LL wrote, would be if "Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., on the hot seat with an election a year off, convinces Chairman Vincent C. Gray and at-largers Michael Brown and Kwame Brown to join him, Yvette Alexander, and Marion Barry."

Not so fast! Gloria Murry Ford, a staffer for Michael Brown, called LL yesterday to protest mightily that her boss would never ever consider compromising on such a key civil-rights issue. Not even in some harebrained hypothetical scenario! Never!

Duly noted. And, it should be said that Kwame Brown is signed on as a co-sponsor of the marriage bill, and Gray is not only a co-sponsor, but offered strongly pro-marriage-equality comments in a Washington Times interview earlier this week.

So that leaves Alexander, Barry, and Thomas.

Read More "Michael Brown Stands for Gay Marriage; Yvette Alexander Does Not" »

Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry has written a letter to at-large colleague David A. Catania accusing him of a "personal vendetta" and saying he's "perplexed, appalled, hurt by your increasingly [sic] levels of disrespect."

That includes Catania's decision to walk out on Friday's press conference announcing an independent investigation of Barry's contract with Donna Watts-Brighthaupt after Barry used to opportunity to rail against Park Police. And also Catania's abortive investigation into what "essentially is a personnel matter" with a nonprofit he funded through an earmark.

Why such treatment? Instead of the race card, Barry pulls the gay card: "I attribute your latest actions to my 'no' vote on recognizing same sex marriages from other states."

Read More "Marion Barry Lashes Out at David Catania" »

This afternoon, LL and other reporters hoping to follow his Friday scoop showed up to a Wilson Building hearing room to hear testimony on grants earmarked last year by Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry.

We were all disappointed.

At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania, who called the hearing to examine the role of "fiscal agents" in administering Department of Health grants, read an opening statement then announced he was recessing the hearing.

Read More "Catania Abruptly Cancels Hearing on Barry Earmarks" »

D.C. Wire's Marion Barry coverage leads the Post's site this a.m., wherein Councilmember David Catania "steps to the plate" (Barry loves that phrase) on the issue of granting and then yanking public contracts from his former ladyfriend. "These are public funds," he says. "There needs to be an accounting." Barry's spokesperson promises the good councilmember will actually answer some questions on that front today. Other Council react: Chairman Vincent Gray avoided the matter, issuing some boilerplate about how he's worked to increase the Council's ethics. Barry's across-the-river compadre's remarks were reserved for the kicker. Yvette Alexander: "The nine lives of Marion Barry, except I think he has maybe 11 lives." And, thanks, WaPo for giving City Paper credit on the voicemail tapes! The TV did the same last night, although funnily News Channel 8 cut off the last part of our cover image.

Speaking of: Get yours today! As the Sexist points out, they won't last long. Even Gawker thinks this week's cover is a thing of beauty, and they almost never say anything nice.

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: “These Are Public Funds” Edition" »

The next local election day might be some 15 months off, but Saturday's Capital Pride parade still had a political charge---mostly due to the recent heat on gay marriage, but also thanks to a mayoral campaign kicking into full gear and possible council challenger in the mix.

LL was there with camera. Behold!

Read More "LL’s 2009 Capital Pride Reviewing Stand" »

Well, it's out in the open now.

A draft committee that was possibly the worst-kept secret in local politics in recent weeks has revealed itself today, in a press release and Web site urging Clark E. Ray, recently fired Department of Parks and Recreation director, to run for an at-large council seat.

"We believe that Clark Ray as a member of the DC Council will serve based on his dynamic VISION for what our City can become," the release reads. "He is someone who has proven that he is a man of ACTION and that he can get RESULTS."

The author of the release is Peter Rosenstein, the longtime gay activist who was once Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's most vocal supporter in the GLBT community. The draft committee list of more than 80 names includes a number of folks active in gay-and-lesbian politics (Darrin Glymph, Lane Hudson, Sheila Alexander Reid), some neighborhood activist types (Cary Silverman, Jack Jacobson, Laurie Collins), and a few political wild cards (Adam Clampitt, Neil Richardson, Judith Terra, Jacque Patterson, Cora Masters Barry).

Also notable: The list includes at least two of Ray's former employees at parks-and-rec---John Stokes, the agency's communications director, and Michele Molotsky, the former aide to Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans who runs senior programs for the agency.

Unmentioned in the release is whether they want Ray, who is gay, to run as a Democrat (i.e., against Phil Mendelson) or as an independent (i.e., against David A. Catania, or someone else should Catania decide not to run). The former possibility is widely considered to be more likely. But in either case, having a significant element of the gay political community going out on a limb against either of those sitting members---two of the council's most GLBT-friendly---is notable.

As for Ray, he's playing coy. LL first asked him about the rumors, and last week the Blade's Lou Chibbaro Jr. further pressed him. "I would think it would be foolish to rule out anything," Ray told Chibbaro. "I am flattered that there are those that think I am a viable individual to consider for Council at some point in time in the next two years or whatever. D.C. is my home. I’m going to be here forever. I think I’m young at 45. I plan on being around for a while. So I certainly wouldn’t rule anything out."

UPDATE, 9:45 A.M.: LL got Rosenstein on the horn; "Clark is a Democrat and will run when he announces as a Democrat," he confirms. So why go after Mendo? "I personally want to thank Phil Mendelson for all he has done for our city and for introducing GLBT legislation. But I personally...believe these are not lifetime positions, that you need new blood, new ideas, and need someone who is ready to re-energize the council. While I personal want to thank Phil for all he's done, it think it's time for someone new." He adds, "This is not totally about GLBT issues. I think there are a broad spectrum of issues that need to be dealt with in this city," naming "crime initiatives, education reform initiatives."

Full release after jump.

Read More "Clark Ray for D.C. Council Draft Committee Reveals Itself" »

Completely without ceremony or debate, the D.C. Council has just made its final vote to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Actually, the council did not vote specifically on the legislation, but rather voted it through as part of the "consent agenda"---a package of typically uncontroversial bills passed together without objection.

Any member can take a bill of the consent agenda, but Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry, who told a crowd last week he'd oppose the bill, declined to do so.

This may not be over---Barry may not have realized what he was voting on, and could move a reconsideration.

UPDATE, 11:15 A.M.: OK, Barry just realized his mistake. He has moved reconsideration. Roll call vote passes 10-3, with Catania, Graham, and Evans opposing.

UPDATE, 11:22 A.M.: Debate has begun. Barry has begun speaking on the gay marriage measure, "It's been a very agonizing and difficult kind of decision. In America, we have a democracy...it is one of the better democracies in the world, which allows people to disagree on the issues....I represent the 70,000 residents of Ward 8. I represent a lot of other people citywide because of my long service as mayor....I initially said i would be supportive [of gay marriage]...and my phone lit up, people talked to me in the street about. And I prayed." Barry went on to speak about his long civil rights record, including opposing the firing of a gay teacher. "The ministers and preachers of this town ...have a responsibility to stand on the moral compass of God whereever they go, and they do....I feel comfortable with this position because I know where my heart is....I'm representing my constituencies." He explained that his signature appeared on the original amendment due to a staff error when he was in the hospital: "It'll never happen again, or they'll be at 64 P Street, which is the unemployment office....I don't want this to be a litmus test. Look at the whole picture. Look at my whole history. In a democracy, you ought to be able to disagree without being put to a test....Look where i was on gay pride day. I started that!...I said I'm a moral person, but I'm not a pastor or a preacher." He closed by pointing out that he was a member of the Temple of Praise church in Ward 8. He pointed out that his own preacher, Bishop Glen Staples, opposes the bill.

UPDATE, 11:40 A.M.: Phil Mendelson, sponsor of the amendment, and now David Catania have spoken in support. "It is somewhat personal," Catania says. "I think it immoral for you to be my friend on one hand and on the other say you are not entitled to the same rights and obligations that I am." "The District has been a place where we've long tried to live under our motto, 'Justice for All'...I will not stop until I have that for every single resident of this city." Retorted Barry, "I resent that implication, that because you're not over here on this particular issue, that you're not being treated equally. That's not fair at all." That earned him applause from a portion of the council chamber. Catania comes back: "I want to be clear...Your position is bigoted, I don't think that you are."

UPDATE, 11:45 P.M.: Tommy Wells speaks up for Barry's civil rights record and the record of churches in delivering needed services, but he says he's foursquare behind the marriage measure: "This is not a political issue for me. This is a moral issue." And here comes Jim Graham, against starting out with kind words for Barry's history before noting, "We part ways today on this issue."

UPDATE, 11:50 P.M.: Graham, who is gay, drops the little known fact that he was once married. "Legally married, to a woman I love to this day. But, for obvious reasons, that didn't work out," he said, to chuckles in the chamber. He closed: "There is not enough love in this world today."

UPDATE, 11:55 P.M.: Yvette Alexander has strong words for the ecclesiastical community: "They have questioned my Christianity. They have question my morality....Let me just say this is an issue of fairness....I do know one thing, that everyone is equal under God." Alexander also alluded to some political pressure she's been feeling: "For those of you threatening to run a 'Christian candidate' against me in the next election, you should know: I'm a Christian candidate, too."

UPDATE 12:00 P.M.: The bill passes, for real this time---12-1, with Barry dissenting.

Yesterday, the Washington Post printed some very obvious news to anyone who's been on South Cap. Street in the past year: Nationals Park hasn't sparked much revitalizing in Southwest. The city spent $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades and developers have made huge holes in the ground and left a lot of buildings still vacant.

As the article states, District residents weren't just sold a new stadium paid for with public dollars. No. As an old story noted, they were sold the "Stadium District"--a full-service community of new retail and new museums and new parks. The city hasn't come close to a Stadium District. Last week, Fisher wrote about the missing neighborhood as well.

What spilled forth in Sunday's A1 article was a lot of excuse making on the part of city officials and developers.

My favorite:

"It just so happens that implementation is occurring during the worst economic downturn in recent history. So things are going to struggle a little bit," said Neil O. Albert, the District's deputy mayor for economic development.

Really? This effort had been planned for years--long before the recession and banking collapse. The reasons Nationals Park hasn't revitalized the neighborhood are too numerous. But let me try.

Read More "Nationals Park: No Revival Yet. Here Are A Few Reasons Why" »

Well, that didn't take long: Anthony Motley will be running as an independent for an at-large council seat in 2010.

As first reported by LL last month, Motley is the first non-incumbent to declare for the 2010 at-large race, but there was some question over whether he would run as a Democrat or not. Motley is an elected member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, but rumors and a sign posted at his Web site had him running as an independent. Ahem, "Independent Democrat."

No more suspense, though: At last night's DCDSC meeting, Motley announced to the group that we was officially resigning his seat, and that by next week, he would no longer be registered as a Democrat. He received, according to a member present, "polite applause."

Read More "It’s Official: Motley Running as Independent" »

Washington Blade's Lou Chibbaro Jr. is reporting this afternoon on an e-mail circulated among pro-gay clergy that claims At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania has committed to introducing a gay marriage bill at the April 7 council meeting.

A Catania aide says in the Blade story that no date is certain, but LL can say with certainty that same-sex marriage efforts are humming right along. Last Thursday, Catania hosted in his office a meeting of about 10 activists with local and national ties to discuss the status and strategy of gay marriage in the District.

At the meeting, multiple sources say, Catania gave no date certain for his bill, but he said his patience would not be infinite. "He basically said, 'I'm very into doing it. I don't want to wait forever, and I will give you notice when I do do it,'" said one person who attended the meeting.

Read More "Same-Sex Marriage Bill in April?" »