April 13, 2009

DC City Council May Recognize Gay Marriage

Posted by Adam Waxman at 9:49AM

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The Washington, DC city council is considering a law that would recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states and localities. Currently gay marriage is legal in several New England states and Iowa.

Why is Washington, DC’s vote important? Because of something called the Home Rule Act that was passed in the 1970s. The US Constitution stipulates in Article 1, Section 8 that Congress shall have the power

“To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States.”

This has meant different things at different times in our history, but what it means today is that laws (and the budget) passed by the District of Columbia must be ratified by the US Congress (The DC city council has a rundown of how this works here). This means that the District will, if it passes a law recognizing gay marriage, force members of the US Congress to take a public stand on the issue in a way they haven’t yet had to this session.

Which is a good thing. The Obama Administration recently put off a decision on the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that currently governs America’s military. Obama’s going to have to deal with gay rights on the federal level at some point; DC should be applauded for using their bizarre (not) self-governing rules to move the national debate on gay rights forward.