Marriage Equality In DC "Assured"

The Washington DC City Council is poised to introduce its marriage equality bill later this month with an "assured majority" of council members as co-sponsors.

[Openly gay] D.C. City Council member David Catania (I-At Large) is expected to introduce a bill to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in the District before month’s end, according to sources familiar with Catania’s plans. The sources, who spoke on condition that they not be identified, said Catania told local activists he would drop his bill into the legislative hopper shortly before he speaks Sept. 30 before a D.C. Marriage Equality Convocation. The convocation, or conference, is being organized by a coalition of more than one dozen LGBT groups. Organizers say it’s intended to rally local LGBT residents to action in support of the same-sex marriage measure, which is expected to be introduced by Catania and co-introduced by at least 10 of the Council’s 13 members.

NOM has promised to back Bishop Harry Jackson's proposed ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage, but the DC board of Elections and Ethics has previously denied such attempts on the grounds that putting minority rights to a popular vote violates the city's Human Rights Act. NOM is expected to challenge another such denial in federal court.