At Metro Weekly, I look today at the steps remaining before marriage equality comes to Washington, D.C., in “Marriage Nears the Finish Line“:
The passage of the marriage equality bill by D.C. City Council on December 15 and signing of the bill by Mayor Adrian Fenty later that week may have been, as longtime District LGBT equality advocate Bob Summersgill said, ”the easy step” in reaching D.C. marriage equality.
In the past week, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 was transmitted to Congress for review, a judge heard arguments on whether same-sex marriage can be subject to an initiative in the District and a referendum effort was filed by equality opponents. After all that, marriage equality is still moving forward – but there are several hurdles remaining in place before the D.C. Clerk of Courts signs the first marriage certificate.
[UPDATE: Be sure, also, to read my update about the D.C. Superior Court ruling upholding the Board of Elections earlier decision that same-sex marriage is not an appropriate subject for an initiative.]
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Chris Geidner is the senior political writer at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found