Former DC Mayor Marion Barry Dies

Controversial former Washington DC mayor Marion Barry died today at the age of 78.

His death was announced by his family in a statement released through a spokeswoman for Barry. According to the statement, he died at the United Medical Center in Southeast Washington, after having been released from Howard University Hospital Saturday. Natalie Williams, a United Medical Center spokeswoman, said Barry arrived at the hospital around 12:30 a.m. and died at 1:46 a.m. She declined to discuss his symptoms presented or the treatment rendered. No cause was given in the family statement, but he had suffered from many health problems over the years. Mayor Vincent C. Gray said in a statement that he would work with Barry’s family and the D.C. Council to plan ceremonies worthy of a “true statesman of the District of Columbia.” In pre-dawn statements, both Gray and mayor-elect Muriel Bowser expressed sadness at Barry’s passing. Bowser was at the hospital early Sunday and gave remarks at an impromptu news conference in the hospital auditorium where more than a dozen Barry aides and supporters gathered, some of them sobbing.

Barry spent four terms as DC mayor, but his third and fourth terms were separated by a brief stretch in prison after being caught smoking crack with a former girlfriend (and FBI informant) as federal agents watched from an adjoining hotel room. Barry famously snarled, "Goddamn bitch set me up!" during his televised arrest, a line that was frequently quoted during the recent saga of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Barry spent the last decade as a DC city councilman.

RELATED: In 2008 Barry declared that he would vote for same-sex marriage if such a bill were to be presented to the DC City Council. However in December 2009 when the bill did arrive, Barry voted against it, saying, "All hell is going to break lose. We may have a civil war. The black community is just adamant against this." The bill passed by a 12-1 vote. Pandemonium ensued in the council's building after the vote and police had to remove screaming evangelicals. The city began issuing same-sex marriage licenses in March 2010.

DC Hate Crimes Rise In Wards Repped By Anti-Marriage Council Members

Washington DC has seen 36 hate crimes so far in 2009, about the same as in each of the last two years. All but one of those hate crimes has been about sexual orientation. But check out this bit of damning news:

Numbers can be debated. But one number can not: the rise in sexual orientation hate crimes in Wards 7 and 8 [police districts 6 and 7]. In 2008, 13 percent of sexual orientation hate crimes took place in these wards. So far in 2009, the number jumped to 32 percent. On a side note, only two councilmembers---Yvette Alexander and Marion Barry---voted against the gay marriage bill. Who do they represent? Wards 7 and 8.

Says it all, doesn't it? People do follow their leaders.

(Tipped by JMG reader Jimbo in DC)

Crackbarry: Homo Set Me Up!

DC City Councilman Marion "Crack" Barry says he's being investigated for ethics violations in retribution for campaigning against marriage equality. Via Gay Politics:

Washington, D.C. City Councilman Marion Barry is accusing his openly gay colleague, David Catania, of targeting him on unrelated ethics questions because Barry refused to support a measure that resulted in the District government recognizing legally-married same-sex couples, according to report by a local FOX News affiliate. Barry, a longtime supporter of LGBT rights in D.C., has cited discord between the LGBT community and African-American religious leaders for his current stance on marriage equality. New ethics questions have surfaced about Barry’s role in administering grant money authorized by the city council.

The Saga Of Marion & Donna

Washington City Paper has somehow obtained voicemails exchanged by defender of marriage and "moral politician" Marion Barry and not-his-wife Donna Watts-Brighthaupt. Over the weekend Barry was arrested for stalking Donna, although he told police that he "just didn't realize" that it was her car he was following through a city park. The most amusing of the voicemails reveals that Barry threw Donna out of their Denver hotel room for refusing to give him oral sex.

Sez Donna:

Why you saying he fuck me like you did?...Why you sayin’ he has my credit fucked up, and. you know. I think you telling your friends, sayin’ I want a man who fucked me up, fucked my credit up, got me to lose my house and she keep goin’ back to that man…You want me to think I’m crazy…All I’m trying to saying is I forgive. You put me out in Denver cause I wouldn’t suck your dick. You put me out in Denver! You made me have to fuck your ass up in the middle of a [unintelligible]. We were like fuckin’ Tina and Ike Turner. And I forgive. Alright you just wastin my damn time?...I can’t believe this….you always… you don’t think about other people’s time. You’re inconsiderate…

Barry is expected to battle DC's marriage equality legislation this fall, just as he joined the failed attempt to put the issue to a referendum last month.

(Tipped by JMG reader Daddy B)

Crackbarry: I Was Behind Her Accidentally

Former DC mayor Marion "Crack" Barry now claims that he didn't realize he was following his girlfriend in traffic when she called 911 to report that he was stalking her.

At a news conference Monday, attorney Frederick Cooke said Barry vehemently denies the allegation by Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, who said the city councilman wouldn't leave her alone. Barry stood behind Cooke but said nothing. Cooke said Barry and Watts-Brighthaupt were on their way to Rehoboth Beach, Del., on Saturday when she changed her mind. Cooke said the two returned to Washington, and Barry was just driving home when he ended up behind the woman. He said Barry didn't know where the woman was when he started driving home through the park where the arrest occurred. In a blistering attack, Cooke accused Watts-Brighthaupt of "instability" and "striking out at Mr. Barry," and insisted that her initial accusation and then her "recanting" it in press reports shows how unstable she is and little credibility she has.

Anybody buying that? Defender of marriage Barry is still married to another woman, btw.

Defender Of Marriage Marion Barry Arrested AGAIN, Charged With Stalking

Marion Barry, the noble defender of marriage who recently joined with Bishop Harry Jackson to fight DC's same-sex marriage recognition bill, has been arrested for the 87th (or so) time.

D.C. Council member Marion Barry was arrested last night and charged with stalking a woman after the woman reported that Barry was "bothering her" as the two traveled in separate vehicles in Anacostia Park, police said this morning. At about 8:45 p.m., a woman traveling near the intersection Good Hope Road and Anacostia Drive flagged down a U.S. Park Police officer to report that a man in a vehicle nearby was stalking her, said Sgt. David Schlosser, a Park Police spokesman. That man, Schlosser said, was Barry. The officer interviewed the woman and Barry, then arrested Barry and took him to the Park Police's Anacostia Station, Schlosser said. There a detective interviewed Barry again, and police charged him with a misdemeanor count of stalking. Barry was released and ordered to appear in court, likely sometime later this week, Schlosser said.

Goddamn bitch set him up!

At Yesterday's DC Marriage Hearing

Marion Barry makes his deluded case. And then after the vote, all the crazies start shouting.

(Via - Washington Blade)
UPDATE: More screaming!

Marion Barry Warns Of "Civil War" Over Same-Sex Marriage

After accidentally voting FOR marriage equality today, then calling for a second vote because he wasn't paying attention, former DC mayor and current City Councilman Marion Barry said that a "civil war" may erupt in the nation's capitol over same-sex marriage. Pandemonium ensued in the council's building after the vote and police and security had to removing screaming evangelicals.

"All hell is going to break lose," Barry said while speaking to reporters. "We may have a civil war. The black community is just adamant against this." Barry made his remarks a few hours after a group of same-sex marriage opponents, led by black ministers, caused uproar in the Wilson Building after the Council voted 12 to 1 to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. They caused such a ruckus that security guards and police had to clear the hallway. The protesters shouted that council members who voted for the bill will face retribution at the polls. Although he has been a longtime supporter of gay rights, Barry said he voted against the bill to satisfy his constituents in Southeast Washington. "What you've got to understand is 98 percent of my constituents are black and we don't have but a handful of openly gay residents," Barry said. "Secondly, at least 70 percent of those who express themselves to me about this are opposed to anything dealing with this issue. The ministers think it is a sin, and I have to be sensitive to that."

Four times married. Convicted crack addict. Three times indicted for tax evasion. One DUI arrest. He is a "moral politician."

DC Votes 12-1 To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages, Marion Barry Loses Mind Again

Marion "I am a moral crack whore" Barry was the only dissenting vote today as the Washington DC City Council voted 12-1 to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Barry initially voted for the bill, but asked for an immediate re-vote saying he didn't know what he had just voted on. He then voted 'no'.

PUT DOWN THE PIPE, MARION.

If Congress does not intervene, DC Councilman David Catania says he will introduce a bill later this year allowing same-sex marriage to be performed in the District. Although there is disagreement, some marriage advocates believe that the city's Human Rights Act forbids putting the issue to a popular vote.

Four Times Married Ex-Con Drunk Driving Tax Evader Calls Gay Marriage Immoral

(Via - Right Wing Watch)

"Bitch Set Me Up!"....

...said then-DC Mayor Marion Barry in 1990 about the prostitute who led him into a crack cocaine sting, which lead to a six-month stint in a federal prison. Three income tax evasion investigations, a DWI arrest, and four wives later, the current DC Councilman Marion Barry felt no fucking shame in joining the NOM crowd today to lead chants about the immorality of same-sex marriage.

Via DCist:

"We have to say 'no' to same-sex marriage in D.C.," Barry told the crowd, echoing a statement made minutes before by Rev. George Gilbert of the Holy Trinity United Baptist Church in Northeast. Barry was not present at the April 7 Council session where the bill, introduced by At-large Council member Phil Mendelson (D), passed unanimously in a preliminary vote. "If I had been, I would have voted 'no,'" Barry added. "I am a politician who is moral." Last year, when he was running for re-election, Barry told the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club that he would vote in favor of gay marriage legislation.

UPDATE: Here's the Washington Blade's coverage of rally organizer Bishop Harry Jackson's speech.

Marion Barry Endorses Gay Marriage

Former mayor and current Washington DC City Councilman Marion Barry has come out in favor of gay marriage there.

D.C. Council Member Marion Barry said that he would vote for a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the city, if such a measure is introduced. It’s the first time the former mayor has publicly revealed his position on a marriage bill. His remarks came on June 18 at a meeting of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, Washington’s largest gay political group, Until the Stein Club’s meeting last week, Barry had declined to say whether he would support legislation to legalize same-sex marriage. In response to a question at the meeting, Barry said, “I don’t think you should make that question a litmus test. But if a bill like that were to come up, I would vote for it.”

Although Barry's turbulent four terms as DC mayor have arguably marked him forever as the most infamous big city mayor in American history, he was an early and ardent supporter of LGBT rights going back to the 1970's. Besides, bitch set him up!