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" »

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.

Read More "No Gay-Marriage Referendum Decision Today" »

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 June 5, Lou Chibbaro Jr. reported in the Washington Blade that Jackson had only recently registered to vote in the District and that he listed his residence as a one-bedroom apartment in the Whitman, a Mount Vernon Square condo building. That, of course, is germane because he is (a) a proponent of a referendum on a District law and (b) required to be a registered District voter to do so. Earlier this week, Chibbaro added to his report, reporting that virtually no one at the condo building had seen Jackson and that Jackson is maintaining his residences in Maryland.

On Wednesday, at a hearing before the Board of Elections and Ethics, Jackson took time to decry the disclosures, calling them a threat to him and his family and an attempt to intimidate him and other same-sex marriage opponents.

On O'Reilly, he continued his protestations.

Read More "Bishop Harry Jackson to Bill O’Reilly: ‘They Hacked Into My Records’" »

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 orientation is a protected class.

But the debate here, in a packed second-floor hearing room at One Judiciary Square, has not stuck to those parameters.

Read More "Hundreds Watch Gay Marriage Referendum Hearing" »

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 be one of those issues you might wish would go away.

Thomas veered heavily to one side of that line when he voted this month to recognize other states' same-sex marriages here in D.C. He leaned even further when the Washington Blade reported last Friday that Thomas was on the record in support of a full gay marriage bill—-a story LL had highlighted in his Friday news roundup.

Leaned too far, perhaps: That afternoon, Thomas spokesperson Victoria Leonard called LL to say the Blade story, by Lou Chibarro Jr., wasn't true. Her boss, she said, wasn't committed either way.

Read More "Behold Harry Thomas Jr.’s Nuanced Position on Same-Sex Marriage Legislation" »

Two congressmen today announced that they will seek to prevent the District from recognizing or performing same-sex marriages.

Introducing the bill are Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio, pictured top) and Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla., bottom). It's important to note that the legislation would define marriage in the District as between a man and a woman. It is not a resolution specifically disapproving the city's action this month to recognize gay marriages performed out of state.

Politico's Alex Isenstadt was at the press conference today:

“Nothing can be more important than the sanctity of our families,” Rep. Tom Price, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, told reporters.

Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Dan Boren (D-Okla.) introduced the bill today, which aims to define marriage in D.C. as a “union of one man and one woman.”

“The family is truly the foundational institution of our nation, and marriage is its cornerstone,” Jordan said today in a statement.

Jordan unveiled the bill today in a press conference. He was joined by a group of pastors and religious leaders. It's not clear if there's any legislative vehicle for the anti-gay-marriage bill or whether Democrats would even allow a vote on the measure.

Isenstadt says the bill is supported by a "handful of House Republicans and two Democrats." One of those Republicans is our hamburger-loving friend Jason Chaffetz of Utah.

UPDATE, 4:35 P.M.: The bill is called the "D.C. Defense of Marriage Act."

Joining Jordan, Boren, Chaffetz, and Price at the presser today was none other than Bishop Harry Jackson, the pastor of a Maryland church who has been the most visible opponent of D.C. same-sex marriage.

A press release from Jordan's office says this is a "one-page bill" that states, “That in the District of Columbia, for all legal purposes, ‘marriage’ means the union of one man and one woman." The bill, according to the release, will have "30 bi-partisan co-sponsors."

The Democrats supporting the measure are Boren and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina.

UPDATE, 4:42 P.M.: Jeff Richardson, president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, is first out with a statement, and it's a good one: "The residents of the District of Columbia are accustomed to some members of congress using the District as a political playground to earn points back in their home districts. But today, it is Bishop Harry Jackson and other DC, and metro DC, based clergy who participated in today’s press conference, that have shown total disrespect for District residents’ historical struggle for self-determination....Jackson has shown that he does not stand with and for the people of the District of Columbia, but I have confidence that District residents will continue to fight for our self-determination and equality for every resident of this great city.”

Richardson was not at the press conference and does not know who the other local clergy were. LL is trying to run that down now.

UPDATE, 4:50 P.M.: Also said to be in attendance: Rev. Anthony Evans, an associate minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Brightwood Park. He was also one of the ministers who stormed the John A. Wilson Building hallway immediately after the council vote.

UPDATE, 5:30 P.M.: Additional stories have been posted by AP, UPI, and Cleveland Plain Dealer, who notes that Jackson said, "I do not want my grandkids sitting in a classroom hearing about Heather has two mommies, or the prince and the prince grow up to marry and become the king and the king."

UPDATE, 5:50 P.M.: A response from Eleanor Holmes Norton's office: "[N]othing has changed, and we expect nothing to change, since the Congresswoman released her last statement," says spokesperson Sonsyrea Tate Montgomery. In that statement, Norton said, "I do not believe that a serious attempt to overturn the Council bill will be made or would be successful."

Freedom Plaza briefly found itself this morning at the center of the culture wars, when about 150 folks gathered to protest the D.C. Council's recent vote to recognize same-sex marriages in other states.

Bishop Harry Jackson, a D.C.-resident minister who leads a Bowie, Md.-based flock, assembled the group with the help of the Family Research Council, whose president Tony Perkins appeared today with a group of ministers on the stone expanse across from the John A. Wilson Building.

Protesters carried a variety of neatly made signs bearing such epigrams as, "If We Change Marriage, What Will Be Next?"; "Say No 2 Same-Sex Marriage in D.C."; "Kids Deserve a Mom and a Dad"; and "Think About the Children."

Jackson read a message from evangelical firebrand James Dobson, who urged followers in his statement to "create a Defense of Marriage Act for the District of Columbia."

Cindy Jacobs, "a respected prophet" and frequent 700 Club guest from the Dallas area, took the microphone to tie the day's rally to a debate on hate crimes currently taking place on Capitol Hill. The protest is a civil-right issue, she said, claiming that the federal legislation threatened the ability to oppose gay marriage. She went on to namecheck Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. "We're not going to give Satan any rest," she cried. "We're not going to give city councils any rest. We're not going to give legislatures any rest."

LL spoke to ten individuals after the 90-minute rally ended. None were current residents of the District of Columbia.

Read More "Anti-Gay Marriage Rally Light on District Residents" »

So the D.C. Council has voted to (kinda-sorta) allow same-sex marriage. What now?

Assuming the bill becomes law, plenty of observers see two fronts of possible conflict. First is that the law will set off a frenzy of congressional intervention. To wit, American Prospect's Ezra Klein.

Nope, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton says to LL this afternoon: "I anticipate being able to be able to protect it....In order to do something someone is going to have to introduce a bill or otherwise get something through the Congress. Well, you gotta pass by me on that....I believe I can prevent any bill from moving to the House floor to overturn the bill that was passed yesterday."

What Klein doesn't quite get right is that Congress need not actively "approve" D.C.'s decision. If lawmakers do nothing about the bill for 30 days, it's law.

Read More "Norton: I Can Protect Same-Sex Marriage Bill" »

The D.C. Council voted today to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. The Post writes:

"The initial vote was 12-0. The unanimous vote sets the stage for future debate on legalizing same-sex marriage in the District and a clash with Congress, which approves the city's laws under Home Rule. The council is expected to take a final vote on the legislation next month.

Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who is gay, called the amendment a matter of 'basic fairness.'

The city's laws on same-sex unions have been murky, he explained. Couples ask, he said, 'Is my marriage valid in D.C.? For years now, it has not been clear.'"

WTOP files its own story on the vote:

"Just minutes after the Vermont State Legislature voted to overturn a veto by the state's governor to allow same-sex marriages, the D.C. Council gave preliminary approval to recognize gay marriages performed in other states.

Lawmakers say Tuesday's 12-0 vote moves the city a step closer to eventually allowing same-sex marriages to be performed in the District.

'This is a right that should be enjoyed by all of our citizens,' Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) says. 'Today is another major step toward the ultimate goal of all of us living in a city and a country where everyone is treated equally.'

As LL recently reported, more same-sex legislation is in the works. In a similar vote today, the Washington City Paper staff informally decided that same-sex marriages should be legal in D.C. One staffer went so far as to say that only same-sex marriages should be legal here.

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?" »