WASHINGTON (ABP) -- With a May 5 vote, the District of Columbia Council may have put an issue before Congress that many House and Senate leaders would just as soon avoid right now: Gay marriage.

The top legislative body for residents of the nation’s capital voted 12-1 to recognize the legality of same-sex marriages performed in other states. If Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) signs it, as expected, the bill has one more hurdle to clear before it becomes law. Council decisions are subject to a 30-day period during which Congress may review and overturn them.

David Catania (PHOTO/DavidCatania.com)

The lone dissenting vote was former mayor Marion Barry, who now represents an impoverished part of southeast Washington on the council. While he touted his past support of gay rights in debate before the vote and described his decision to vote in favor of it as “agonizing and difficult,” he decided on this issue he had to side with “ministers who stand on the moral compass of God.”

The member who sponsored the bill, At-Large Councilman David Catania (I), is one of two openly gay members of the council. He said Barry was not a bigot, but that his position was "bigoted." He said the question before the council was whether two of Barry’s colleagues would be “permitted the same rights and responsibilities and obligations as our colleagues. So this is personal. This is acknowledging our families as much as we acknowledge yours."

Catania has vowed to introduce a bill allowing the District to begin performing its own same-sex marriages later this year if the current measure survives the congressional-review period. It also would be likely to pass the council, and Fenty has previously stated his strong support for legalizing same-sex marriage.

President Obama and the Democratic leaders who control Congress are generally supportive of gay rights, but have signaled an unwillingness to push hard on controversial social issues because of the pressing economic concerns currently before them.

Adrian Fenty (PHOTO/Office of the D.C. Mayor)

Opponents of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia have vowed to lobby Congress to overturn the decision. Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church in suburban Beltsville, Md., and an outspoken supporter of Religious Right causes in the African-American community, has emerged as the leader of anti-gay-marriage forces in the Washington area. He has vowed to develop a strategy to fight same-sex marriage in the District.

While Washington is an overwhelmingly Democratic city and has long had gay-friendly laws, such as a domestic-partnership registry that allows same-sex couples to enjoy some of the same legal rights as married couples, it also has a large African-American population. Polls show that African-Americans tend to be more opposed to same-sex marriage than other ethnic groups.

If the bill becomes law, Washington would join New York in recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. If the District then legalizes its own gay marriages, it would join four other states in allowing same-sex couples to marry: Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Iowa.

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Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.

Related ABP stories:

Vermont first state to approve gay marriage legislatively (4/7)

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