Jul 15, 2005   | COMMENTS     

Although he created a gay affairs office in his administration and gave it cabinet-level status, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams opposes legislation to enshrine the office into law, a spokesperson for the mayor told a D.C. Council committee on July 7.

“The mayor, on Sept. 2, 2004, signed Mayor’s Order No. 2004-148, formally establishing the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Affairs,” said John Wallace, director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs.

“In light of this action, the executive believes that the legislation before you today is not necessary,” Wallace said, in testimony before the Council’s Committee on Government Operations.

Wallace was referring to legislation introduced by gay D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Bill 16-235, which calls for making the Office of LGBT Affairs a permanent part of the D.C. government.

Wallace’s comments, which caught Graham and most gay activists by surprise, came during a week when developments surfaced on five gay-related bills pending before the Council.

In the hearing where Wallace disclosed the mayor’s opposition to Graham’s LGBT office bill, the Government Operations Committee heard testimony on two separate bills calling for expanding health benefits for the domestic partners of D.C. government employees.

Graham and Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5), who chairs the Government Operations Committee, introduced another bill calling for adding the terms “gender identity and expression” as a protected category under the D.C. Human Rights Act. The other 11 Councilmembers signed on as co-sponsors, indicating the bill is likely to pass by unanimous vote.

Transgender rights activists said the bill was needed to clarify for the courts that the Human Rights Act protects transgendered persons from discrimination even though legal observers believe the act already does that through language banning bias based on “personal appearance.”

Alimony for gay couples?
In a separate development, Council-member Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) postponed a July 1 markup hearing in which the Council’s Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, was expected to approve a third, far more sweeping domestic partners bill he introduced in February.

Mendelson’s bill would expand the city’s existing domestic partners law by providing more benefits and obligations for same-sex couples, including inheritance rights and a requirement to support a partner after a breakup through payments similar to alimony.

He said the legislation, Bill 16-52, the Domestic Partnership Equality Act, needs some “fine-tuning” on a few non-controversial technical issues that the committee will address when the Council reconvenes in September. Mendelson said nine councilmembers who co-sponsored the bill remain strongly committed to the bill, which he expects the Council to pass in October or November.

Graham’s bill calling for enacting the mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs into law would require that the office retain at least two full-time employees and would create an LGBT advisory committee within the office of the mayor. It also gives the Council the power to confirm or reject the mayor’s nomination of the director of the office.

In creating the office by executive order, Williams does not have to submit the name of his designated director to the Council for approval and retains more control over its staffing and functions.

The LGBT office created by Williams has been without a director since March 16, when lesbian activist Wanda Alston died at the hands of an assailant who fatally stabbed her in her home during a robbery. Police said the motive in the killing was not related to Alston’s sexual orientation.

Gay activist Peter Rosenstein, who served as an adviser to Williams in the past before joining the 2006 mayoral campaign of District Councilmember Adrian Fenty (D-Ward 4), said the office has been “non-functional” since Alston’s death.

The mayor’s office has yet to issue an official job announcement calling for candidates to apply for the director’s job.

Vincent Morris, the mayor’s press secretary, said the office continues to operate as the mayor’s office takes steps to find a replacement for Alston. Morris said Williams expects to have a replacement in place in September.

Wallace described a wide range of functions that Alston established for the office during her short tenure, including providing the mayor with advice and research on LGBT issues, identifying contacts for the LGBT community in most city agencies and departments, creating a Web site for the office, and assisting gay groups in applying for city grants.

He noted that the office coordinated a first-of-its-kind LGBT citizens’ summit earlier this year in which Williams and top city officials actively participated.

Councilmember Orange, who is a co-sponsor of Graham’s bill, said he was surprised over Wallace’s disclosure that the mayor did not support legislation to make the office permanent.

“On the ...