Thanks to Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia, a rider just added to D.C.'s District's 2010 federal appropriation bill will effectively trash all clean needle exchange programs in this city. According to the Examiner:

an amendment recently offered by Republican Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, and accepted by the Democrat-led Appropriations Committee, bars the District from distributing clean needles or syringes to drug addicts within 1,000 feet "of a public or private day care center, elementary school, vocational school, secondary school, college, junior college, or university, or any public swimming pool, park, playground, video arcade, or youth center, or an event sponsored by any such entity."

Can anyone think of a space in D.C. that's not within 1,000 feet of any of these things?

I'm glad to see that Congress doesn't want to completely eliminate needle exchanges in the city with the highest HIV rate in the country—it just wants to push clean needles to the one obscure spot in D.C. that's football fields away from any public or private . . . anything. The Examiner reports that The House Rules Committee has already "nixed nine proposed D.C.-related amendments offered by Republican members involving guns, gay marriage, abortion and marijuana." Clean needles didn't make the cuts cut.

Local needle-exchange provider Dr. Phil Terry notes that Kingston's fear of needles may, ironically, bring the clean needles closer to his workplace: "There's virtually no area in D.C. that would meet those restrictions, except maybe Capitol Hill," Terry said.

DCist says it all: "Considering the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the District of Columbia, we think it's fair to label this latest maneuver in the House as absolutely despicable."

Photo by Todd Huffman

NewsChannel 8 talk show co-host Doug McKelway threatened gay blogger Michael Rogers yesterday on live television, DCist reports. McKelway was interviewing Rogers about Outrage, a new documentary on closeted gay politicians and the activists who out them. Rogers, who advocates outing gay politicians who promote homophobic legislation, appears in the film.

"I have a problem with your community," McKelway says, before telling him (at about the 2:30 mark): "I'm going to do more than just point my finger at you. I'm gonna take you outside and give you a punch across the face."

Watch the video on PageOneQ here.

* Via New York Times: What it feels like for a girl. Or boy, depending on where you're starting from.

* Tiger Beatdown tries to quit smoking, discovers strange withdrawal symptoms: Temper tantrums. A state of near paralysis. Feelings of being an infant.

* Man About Town D.C. writes about the efforts of local gay activists to "connect with Black groups and leaders" in preparation for a D.C. gay marriage initiative, and makes a good point on the Prop 8 blame game:

the Black vote fixation was myopic. Apparently, some people didn’t realize that upward of 80% of Republicans, conservatives, white evangelicals, and weekly churchgoers also voted yes on Prop. 8. The initiative would have passed, albeit barely, even if not a single African-American had shown up at the polls. Besides, Mormons pumped $20 million into the “Yes on 8” campaign, so it’s safer to say they really tipped the scales.

* Via Talking Points Memo: The Senate's trying to negotiate past a Constitutional clause that some say prevents Clinton from taking the Secretary of State post—by offering to cut the Secretary's salary.

Photo by Caveman 92223.

The District of Columbia may be a few Senators short of statehood, but it's close to securing some other rights for its citizens, D.C. Council member David Catania says. At Saturday's 2008 GLBT Economic Development Summit, Catania "reaffirmed that a same-sex marriage bill will be introduced to the Council in January, and that he is sure it will pass," DCist reports. In an interview, Catania said that "[m]any of us on the Council believe that there is no better time that exists than now."

Bills passed by the D.C. Council are subject to Congressional review. Though some saw the passage of Prop 8 as an indication of how Congress would act on future gay marriage initiatives, Cantania says he's confident that the Council will pass a measure in January, and that the then largely Democratic Congress will
approve the bill sometime next year.

Photo of Chicago Prop 8 protest by Grant Gochnauer.

Local government, though, appears more than ready to introduce the legislation. The D.C. Council moved on Tuesday to strengthen the retirement benefits in the domestic partnerships of District police and firefighters. And the only current Councilmember who opposes gay marriage, Marion Barry, says he would support the measure anyway, "despite his personal feelings on the issue."