DC's In!

On December 15th, the Washington, D.C., City Council voted Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage. However, it's not quite solid yet - the mayor needs to sign it into law (and promised to do so already) and because DC is a federal district, Congress has 30 working days to veto the law, but it's unlikely they would do that.

Here's a video:


Now DC will soon join Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut and -- as of Jan 1st, 2010, New Hampshire.

This move is not surprising. DC recently allowed recognition of same-sex couples married in other states - so this is just a continuation of affirming the equality and recogntion of same gender partners.

Not surprisingly, a church group fought the legislation, but this time, were unsuccessful. The Catholic Archdiocese of D.C. sought unsuccessfully to have conscience rights protected in the legislation. In November, Archbishop Donald Wuerl explained in a Washington Post editorial why the bill threatens to force the Church to restrict its charity programs.

"[T]he District requires Catholic Charities to certify its compliance with city laws when applying for contracts and grants. [...] Since Catholic Charities cannot comply with city mandates to recognize and promote same-sex marriages, the city would withhold contracts and licenses," he explained.

Fortunately, the bill did not pander to what these church groups put under the euphemistic banner of "religious freedom" exceptions that would allow churches to express their bigotry (in the public sphere) -somehow in the name of a loving God.

Here's more from the Washington Post.