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| D.C. Councilmember Adrian Fenty is the only Democratic mayoral candidate to announce his support for same-sex marriage in the District. The other four all claim to support full equality for gay couples, but don’t yet support marriage rights. |
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO, JR. COMMENTS
 
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to or visit D.C. from Massachusetts.
Cropp said she wants to assess whether she would release the Spagnoletti memo if she were to be elected mayor, saying she would determine what, if any, impact it would have on potential congressional interference in D.C. affairs.
Brown and Fenty said they would release the Spagnoletti memo immediately after becoming mayor.
Orange said he would release the Spagnoletti memo, while Johns said she would defer making a decision on the matter until she assessed the situation after taking office as mayor.
Williams has said he supports full legal recognition of same-sex marriage in principle and would move ahead with a gay marriage bill in D.C. as soon as it becomes clear that Congress would allow such legislation to remain in effect.
Williams told the Blade last year that he agrees with a strategy proposed by GLAA, a small but outspoken group of longtime local activists, that the city should hold off on introducing a gay marriage bill for the time being — until sentiment in the conservative-leaning Congress changes. GLAA also opposes the GLBT office, claiming it ghettoizes gay issues.
Like Cropp, Brown said he favors civil unions instead of gay marriage, saying he would push for a civil unions bill that would provide same-sex couples with the same benefits and rights as marriage.
“To me, it’s more semantics,” Brown said. “The important thing is to provide the same equal rights and benefits.”
The Human Rights Campaign and other gay groups have long argued that civil unions cannot carry all the rights and benefits of marriage because there’s no mechanism for other states to automatically recognize them, as there is for marriage.
Brown said a gay marriage bill in D.C. would almost certainly trigger a response by Congress to overturn it. He said he also fears Congress might pass legislation restricting or banning civil unions or domestic partnership benefits.
Asked if he supports same-sex marriage philosophically, aside from the question of congressional intervention, Brown said he would not go that far, saying he preferred the civil unions or domestic partnership approach.
Brown characterized his support for gay couples’ legal recognition as, “ a little further than Linda but short of Adrian.”
“My gay advisers — and I have quite a few of them — say the issue is equal rights. Anything that has to do with rights, I’m for it,” he said.
Orange and Johns have said they support gay civil rights in general and would enforce the city&
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