A new Web site hopes to use the oldest trick in the book to combat the Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage: A good, old-fashioned forced outing!

At ChurchOuting.org, you’re invited to scroll through a list of every Achbishop, Bishop, and Reverend in the Archdiocese of Washington, zero in on one you know is gay, and then submit your “detailed account of how you know the priest in question is being hypocritical through his silence.” (Alternately, get at them via Twitter or Facebook).

Read More “Web Site Attempts to Convince Gay Priests To Stop Being Hypocrites” »

Catholic Block: Church fights to keep weddings swinging one way.

The authors of the D.C. gay marriage bill are sensitive folks. While they’re eager to grant gays and lesbians the right to get hitched in the District, they don’t want to upset conservative churches in town. So they threw an exemption into the pending gay-marriage bill [PDF]: No church will be obligated to wed same-sexers. It’s a ceremonial loophole that’s not nearly wide enough for the D.C. arm of the Catholic Church. “The language of the bill only protects us on the day of,” says Susan Gibbs, communications director for the Archdiocese of Washington. “But for us, that day is the launching point for the rest of your life. It’s not a day-long event. It’s a life-long journey.”

Read More “A Guide to Gay Wedding Discrimination” »

Yesterday, the The D.C. Council Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary performed a final mark-up on the language of the D.C. marriage bill, voting 4-to-1 to send the bill to a full council vote. The vote will likely take place early next month. Yay!

In committee, the bill’s religious exemptions were finalized to ensure that no religious organizations—including churches, schools, and nonprofits—would have to “provide services, accommodations, facilities, or goods” to aid in the solemnization, celebration, or promotion of same-sex marriage. Boo.

I can’t imagine that you folks are as interested in the implications of the religious exemption than Mike Riggs and I are, but the full language [PDF] of that portion of the bill is after the jump.
Read More “D.C. Marriage Bill’s Religious Exemption Finalized” »

For those of you who would rather do away with this whole marriage business instead of incorporating new groups into the institution, Canadian group Hidden Cameras have got your anthem: “Ban Marriage.” Recently, eight of them squeezed into the Rock and Roll Hotel to perform the song for The New Gay. The traditional-marriage-averse lyrics include references to fingering, “fag hags,” and drunk ministers. What, no shout-out to the patriarchy? Full lyrics are after the jump.

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AshleyMadison.com, an online dating site that facilitates extramarital affairs, has never been too popular among moral conservatives. Earlier this year, Deroy Murdock argued on Human Events that Ashley Madison has edged out gay marriage as the number one threat to traditional matrimony. Now, cluck-clucking conservatives won’t have to choose between the cheaters and the gays: Ashley Madison has begun marketing itself as a place where the married can pursue their same-sex attractions, too.

Read More “Ashley Madison’s Conservative Values” »

On Alternet, Melissa Harris-Lacewell argues that even as the nation fights to establish marriage equality, it must work to reevaluate institution of marriage itself. “Our work must be not just about marriage equality, it should also be about equal marriages, and about equal rights and security for those who opt out of marriage altogether,” she writes. Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., Councilmember David Catania’s efforts to establish same-sex marriage in the District will come with a price for those who “opt out.”  Catania’s bill will allow gay couples to marry in the District of Columbia, but will eliminate another form of legal unions in the District: domestic partnerships. According to the Washington Blade, “Catania’s bill calls for phasing out the city’s domestic partnership law by ending the ability of same-sex or opposite-sex couples to register new domestic partnerships with the city as of Jan. 1, 2011.”

Read More “In Defense of D.C.’s Domestic Partnerships” »

According to a recent Pew Research study, the District of Columbia has the lowest marriage rate in the country. Only 23 percent of women and 28 percent of men and in D.C. are married, compared to 48 and 52 percent nationwide. The rates in D.C. are so low that they lie entirely off the Pew map’s color key. The closest states to D.C.’s numbers are Rhode Island, where 43 percent of women are married, and Alaska, where 47 percent of men are married.

Why aren’t D.C. residents getting hitched?

Read More “D.C. Has Lowest Marriage Rate In Nation, Largest Percentage of Same-Sex Couples” »

The Sixth & I Historic Synagogue is opening up its chapel as a free wedding venue for one lucky couple looking to get hitched before 2011. The 6-hour space rental is valued at $3,500, and will be awarded to the wedding-bound twosome with the most persuasive 30-second video explaining why the synagogue is perfect for their bash. The contest is open to all couplings—both same-sex and opposite, “no matter your level of Jewish observance.” As long as your level of Jewish observance isn’t totally zero.

Read More “Sixth & I Wedding Winners Must Be Jewish, But Not Straight” »

The cast of Broadway’s “HAIR” has canceled its scheduled performance for Oct. 11 in order to voice its support same-sex marriage. The faux-hippies will be bringing their sexual liberation message to Washington, D.C. that day in order to participate in the National Equality March. The Sexist, too, wishes she could play hooky in the name of marriage equality, but she’ll probably be spending Oct. 11hard at work . . . live-blogging about the cast of Broadway’s “HAIR.” Listen, somebody’s gotta keep tabs on the likes of Steel Burkhardt.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) announced the grand opening of its Washington, D.C. office this week, bringing the organization’s fight against gay marriage into the nation’s capital.

Well, close to the nation’s capital, anyway: NOM’s Twitter feed suggests that the office is actually located in nearby Hyattsville, Md.:

Which brings the fight against gay marriage within a 20 minute drive of the Capitol Building (up to 25 minutes in traffic):

Read More “NOM Brings Fight Against Gay Marriage to D.C. Hyattsville” »