Only two holdouts left.
Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. was a guest on NewsChannel 8's NewsTalk program this afternoon, and the gay marriage bill expected to pass through the council later this year was on the agenda. While he did not make a pledge on camera, anchor Bruce DePuyt reports that in a conversation afterward, [...]

Happy Hump-Day! I can see you slumping over and sleeping at your desk, so I’ve helpfully ended each news-blip with a BOOM, in honor of the Black Eyed Peas, Brett from FOTC, and the DC Metro transit system. Stay awake! Boom!
For those metro riders who have finally managed to assuage their fears of track-jumpers and [...]

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 [...]

In his column this week, LL makes a case for why supporters of gay marriage in the District should embrace the idea of a ballot initiative. Right now, the orthodoxy among marriage equality advocates is that such matters of civil rights should never be put up for a vote. That's a principle that's hard to [...]

Tim Craig kinda buried the lede in his D.C. Wire report on the fresh effort to bring same-sex marriage to the ballot.
Yes, Bishop Harry Jackson and the usual suspects filed new papers to day to hold a vote on making "only marriage between a man and a woman...valid and recognized in the District of Columbia."
But [...]

If you're a same-sex couple married legally in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Iowa, California (in the months it was permitted), or in other countries, congratulations: The District of Columbia now considers you to be married, too.
At this minute, a 30-day congressional review period has expired, and you're now free to enjoy all the rights and responsibilities of [...]

Judge Judith Retchin has ruled [PDF] that a referendum on recognizing out-of-state gay marriages may not proceed.
Retchin was widely expected to ignore the substance of the referendum proponents' argument—i.e., that the District's human rights law does not, in fact, prevent the measure from appearing on the ballot, as the Board of Elections and Ethics ruled [...]

Gay-marriage referendum backers have asked a Superior Court judge this morning to order the city elections board to allow a ballot measure.
The move comes two days after the Board of Elections and Ethics ruled that such a referendum, to overturn a recently passed District law recognizing out-of-state gay marriages, would violate the D.C. Human Right [...]

The Board of Elections and Ethics has ruled that a referendum on recognizing gay marriages is not allowed.
Reads the order [PDF], signed by both board chair Errol Arthur and member Charles Lowery Jr.:
[I]t is clear that the Referendum’s Proposers would, in contravention of the [Human Rights Act], strip same-sex couples of the rights and responsibilities [...]

Another update from Kenneth McGhie, general counsel for the Board of Elections and Ethics: "Still think it's going to be today," he says.
LL and the rest of the city are awaiting the board's decision whether to allow a referendum on recognizing other jurisdictions' same-sex marriages in the District.
The holdup? "Still debating some language," he says.
UPDATE, [...]

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!

LL just got off the phone with Kenneth McGhie, general counsel for the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics.
Those of you expecting a late-Friday announcement on whether or not a referendum will be allowed on the District law recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages: Don't hold your breath.
"Doesn't look like it's going to be today," McGhie says.

Bishop Harry Jackson, leading opponent of gay marriage in the District, entered the No-Spin Zone this evening.
Jackson was featured in a five-minute segment midway through the O'Reilly Factor, as proof, according to host Bill O'Reilly, of "the staggering hypocrisy of the left and media that enables the far left to do these things."
Some backstory: On [...]

The question before the Board of Elections and Ethics today is whether the law passed last month by the D.C. Council recognizing same-sex marriages performed out of state is the proper subject of a referendum. To wit, the main question is whether the bill is covered under the city's longstanding human-rights law, under which sexual [...]

Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. has been walking a mighty fine line the past couple of weeks.
When you're representing a ward that contains both quickly gentrifying (and gayifying) areas like Bloomingdale, Eckington, and Brookland, in addition to the generally conservative Bungalow Belt and many of the city's most politically active churches, same-sex marriage would [...]