Same-sex marriage close to D.C. approval

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By Sarah Abruzzese

D.C. Council member David A. Catania will introduce legislation Tuesday to allow same-sex couples to marry - a bill virtually assured passage by the council and unlikely to generate enough opposition to be overturned by the Democrat-controlled Congress.

The bill, which could be given final approval by the council as early as December, would expand current laws that recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions to allow such marriages to be performed in the District.

Currently, four states perform same-sex marriages. New Hampshire is scheduled to begin performing same-sex marriages in 2010, and Maine voters will consider the issue in a ballot initiative in November.

Mr. Catania's bill, called the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009, will be co-sponsored by 10 of the District's 13 council members. If passed and signed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, the measure would face a 30-day congressional review period during which members of Congress could attempt to block its implementation.

"My sincere hope is that the Congress of the United States of America and its members have more pressing matters before them than this," said Mr. Catania, at-large independent. "At the end of the day, this is an issue that should be left to the elected representatives of the District of Columbia. And I'm hopeful that there will be respect for that on the Hill."

In order to block a D.C. law, members of Congress must enact a joint resolution of disapproval and the president must approve the resolution during the 30-day review period.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District's nonvoting congressional representative, said she was confident that a same-sex marriage bill would survive any congressional opposition.

"Opposition by some in the House already has been announced, but I believe we can and should defeat opposition to gay marriage rights in the District of Columbia as enacted by the District's own elected officials," she said.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican and ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the federal workforce, Postal Service and District of Columbia, said a resolution opposing the measure has little hope of making it to the president's desk.

"Democrats have the House, the Senate and the presidency, so it is an uphill battle at best," said Mr. Chaffetz, who opposes same-sex marriage. "The deck is stacked against us at this point."