Word: same-sex
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...District of Columbia City Councilman David Catania introduced legislation legalizing same-sex marriage. The measure enjoys overwhelming support among City Council members, two of whom are gay, as well as the support of Mayor Adrian Fenty, virtually guaranteeing its passage. However, due to an archaic and unjust constitutional clause granting congressional veto power over all of DC’s local legislation, the bill’s fate is far from determined...
...Congress, home to a still-powerful caucus of gay -marriage opponents, were to issue a joint resolution of disapproval, and if President Obama, who too opposes same-sex marriage, were to sign it, DC’s measure, no matter how resoundingly approved by the City Council, would be overturned. This underscores the lamentable nature of DC’s current situation in which it finds itself presided over by a body of officials for whom no DC residents voted...
...controversy over DC’s gay marriage laws comes in the midst of similar fights in Maine, where the issue is on the ballot this November; Iowa, where same-sex marriage was legalized earlier this year; and California, whose infamous Proposition 8 roused passions across the nation. It is understandable, therefore, that many congressmen will see the issue of same-sex marriage in DC as yet another opportunity to use a traditional wedge issue to wage political warfare, be it to advance the prospects of progressive candidates in left-leaning districts, drive a wedge between socially conservative minorities...
...prospect of wedding bells for gay and lesbian couples in the nation's capital will nonetheless almost certainly stir up political heat before the bill is passed, which under council rules probably wouldn't happen until December. Some Republicans in Congress, while acknowledging that they are powerless to block same-sex marriage in the capital, will probably still try. Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who is the ranking GOP member of the subcommittee with oversight over Washington, says he intends to support any effort to block the bill and may even sponsor such an effort himself...
...churches. A network of pastors at predominantly black churches have been vocal opponents, and over the summer, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl joined the fray, reminding hundreds of Catholic priests in the area of the church's opposition. However, Pastor Patrick J. Walker, chairman of a task force opposing same-sex marriage in the Missionary Baptist Ministers' Conference of D.C. and Vicinity, predicts polarization and little appetite within Congress to take up the issue amid the health-care debate and other pressing issues. "I don't see the affairs of the District of Columbia distracting the Democratically controlled Congress...