Mike DeBonis‘ cover story on Marion Barry and his alleged stalkee’s relationship-caught-on-voicemail is breaking news. The cover image is forever. The Washington Post has capitalized on selling commemorative copies of its Election 2008 issue, its Inauguration 2009 issue, and its Michael Jackson is dead issue. The Washington City Paper’s “You Put Me Out in Denver ‘Cause I Wouldn’t Suck Your Dick” collector’s edition is FREE, and available on newsstands tomorrow! Get ‘em while they’re hot.

Over on City Desk, Mike DeBonis is reporting that the D.C. Council voted unanimously to pass a package of bills that includes recognition for out of state same-sex marriages.

Why did Marion Barry, who led a chant of “No to same-sex marriage” at an anti-gay-marriage rally last week, decline to oppose the gay marriage bill? Oh: He didn’t realize what he was voting on. According to DeBonis, Barry realized his mistake minutes later and moved for reconsideration, firing up the Council debate on marriage.

No take-backs, Marion Barry. No-take backs.

City Paper’s Loose Lips columnist, Mike DeBonis, has the run-down on a D.C. gay marriage timeline:

In the Blade, Lou Chibbaro Jr. runs down some of the challenges facing a ballot referendum banning gay marriage in the District. They are many: For one, 21,000 signatures is a lot.

Meanwhile, in WaTimes, Gary Emerling examines how gay-marriage advocates are “re-evaluating their strategy.” Pretty much everybody says it’s all about timing. Emerling manages to get one minister on the record, the Rev. Derrick Harkins of Nineteenth Street Baptist, who says he doesn’t think a bill “would be met with great enthusiasm on the part of the African-American church.”

In this week’s paper, Mike Debonis—City Paper’s Loose Lips columnist—suggested that D.C. voters write-in at-large Council candidate Carol Schwartz on November 4th. The Washington Blade’s pretty into her, too. Today, Schwartz’s chief of staff and deputy committee clerk, both openly gay, penned an opinion piece for the newspaper touting Schwartz’s leadership in the GLBT community.