Nov 25, 2005  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO, JR.  | COMMENTS     

D.C. Councilmember Adrian Fenty (D-Ward 4) has emerged as the only mayoral candidate so far to express full support for the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in the District.

Fenty, who is one of five Democratic contenders competing in the September 2006 mayoral primary, said he would consider pushing a gay marriage bill in the D.C. Council despite threats from members of Congress to step in to overturn such legislation.

Fenty’s position on gay marriage is in marked contrast to his chief rival, D.C. Council Chair Linda Cropp (D-At-Large), who has said she does not support gay marriage. Cropp said she supports providing same-sex couples with the same rights and benefits as marriage through civil unions or domestic partnership legislation.

Mayoral contender Michael Brown, a lobbyist and Democratic Party activist, took the same position as Cropp, saying he backs civil unions and would push for a civil unions bill “with a lot of teeth.”

Candidate Marie Johns, a former executive at the Verizon telecommunications company, said she believes the city needs “more strong, loving families” of all kinds but she is not yet ready to take a position on whether the city should legally recognize same-sex marriage.

“There are many layers to this issue that I need to study,” she said. “What I will be doing is relying on my friends who are gay and who are working on my campaign to advise me on this.”

D.C. Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5), the remaining mayoral contender running in the 2006 primary, released a written statement saying legal recognition of same-sex marriage in D.C. would create “an immediate response from Congress that would be extremely detrimental to the achievements of the gay community.”

Orange added, “There is no consensus in the gay community on how to address Congress” on the gay marriage issue. He did not disclose whether he personally supports same-sex marriage recognition.

Johns, Cropp, Brown and Orange each said the threat of congressional intervention to overturn a D.C. gay marriage bill would be a key factor in the way they address the gay marriage question.

Fenty said he, too, would be mindful of possible congressional interference.

Support for LGBT Office

All five Democratic mayoral candidates have said they support legislation enacting into law the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Affairs created by District Mayor Anthony Williams last year by executive order.

The Council tabled a bill earlier this month calling for enacting the LGBT office into law. Gay D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who introduced the bill, said he would attempt to bring it back for reconsideration at the Council’s Dec. 6 session.

Cropp told the Blade last week that while she is not ready to embrace gay marriage in the District, she supports recognition of same-sex marriages issued in Massachusetts, where gay marriage was legalized last year.

On the question of same-sex marriage in the District, Cropp said she has not changed her position since she discussed the issue in a 2002 candidates questionnaire from the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, when she ran for re-election as Council chair.

“Although I am not at the point where I would support the legal recognition of marriage between partners of the same sex, I remain open to explore the issue further,” Cropp stated on the GLAA questionnaire.

“I recognize the benefit to society of stable loving partnerships and will continue to seek ways to extend equal rights and benefits for same-sex couples,” Cropp wrote on the questionnaire.

Spagnoletti memo still under wraps

Cropp did not elaborate on why she would support D.C. recognition of same-sex marriages from Massachusetts but does not favor a bill to legally recognize same-sex marriages for residents of the District.

The issue of recognition of gay marriages in Massachusetts surfaced last year when D.C. Attorney General Robert Spagnoletti prepared a legal memorandum for Mayor Williams on whether existing D.C. law would allow the city to recognize gay marriages from Massachusetts. Williams has declined to release the memo, saying he is concerned that it would trigger intervention by Congress to bar the city from passing a same-sex marriage bill in the future.

D.C. Council Chair trong>Linda Cropp said she supports providing same-sex couples with the same rights and benefits as marriage through civil unions or domestic partnership legislation. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Williams’ decision to withhold the release of the memo has fueled speculation that the memo from Spagnoletti, who is gay, states that District law would allow the city to recognize same-sex marriages between couples that move ...