May 11, 2006  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

The five major candidates running for D.C. mayor differ on whether to support same-sex marriage or civil unions while each expresses strong support for all other gay rights issues.

They made their positions known during a May 8 forum sponsored by the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest gay political group.

The two-hour event, held at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters near Dupont Circle, drew nearly 300 people, including gay campaign workers for each of the candidates.

Stein Club President Mario Acosta said the support the candidates showed for virtually all gay rights issues except marriage was in keeping with the city’s tradition of electing gay-supportive mayors.

Washington Post editor and columnist Colbert King, who served as the forum’s moderator, set the tone when he asked, "Do you support the legalization of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia?"

"I said in my opening statement, and I’ll say it very succinctly in response to this question," said former Verizon executive Marie Johns. "The Johns administration will be fully in favor of marriage equality."

Johns issued a statement two weeks ago announcing her support for same-sex marriage.

Ward 4 Councilmember Adrian Fenty, who became the first of the mayoral candidates to declare support for same-sex marriage more than a year ago, told the forum he would also speak out against a potential D.C. ballot amendment to ban gay marriage in the city.

"We should not only promote same-sex marriage, but work to educate and then work against those who would try to have such amendments in the District of Columbia or anywhere else in this country," Fenty said.

D.C. Council Chair Linda Cropp, who along with Fenty is considered a frontrunner in the mayoral race, joined Ward 5 Councilmember Vincent Orange and businessman and lobbyist Michael Brown in expressing support for civil unions rather than same-sex marriage.

The three said they want same-sex couples to have the same rights, benefits and responsibilities that come with marriage, but they were fearful that pushing full same-sex marriage at the present time would prompt Congress to intervene and overturn a gay marriage bill.

At the conclusion of the forum, Acosta-Velez introduced political unknown Artee Milligan, who is a gay candidate for mayor. He was given three minutes to discuss his views. Acosta-Velez said the Stein Club was not aware of Milligan’s candidacy when it informed the candidates about the candidates’ forum in February.

Milligan, a Ward 4 resident who serves as executive director of a local, nonprofit group, said he supports full, same-sex marriage rights and has been a long-time supporter of gay rights and improved AIDS services in the District. He told the Washington Blade his sexual orientation is known among his campaign supporters and circle of friends, and he has had discussions with members of some local gay groups.

Several hundred Washington, D.C., residents attended the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club’s Mayoral Candidates Forum. (Photo by Adam Cuthbert)

Milligan received applause for his same-sex marriage position but drew boos when he informed the crowd that he had worked in the past for the Exxon-Mobil Corp.

Reading questions submitted by members of the audience, King pressed the five major candidates earlier in the forum for answers on subjects ranging from the city’s high HIV-infection rate and gay adoption to discrimination against transgender people and the contribution by gays to the city’s economic development.

Tensions flared only once among the candidates in what was a largely low-key, cordial discussion of the issues.

In responding to a question about the rising HIV infection rate among women in the District, Brown accused Cropp of taking a "homophobic position" at another forum last month by attributing a significant part of female HIV infections to "men on the down-low."

Gay and AIDS activists have used the term "on the down-low" to describe African-American men who have sex with other men but who usually don’t consider themselves gay and have sexual relations with women.

Cropp responded by leaping to her feet and demanding to be allowed to respond to Brown’s accusation. After waiting for moderator King’s go-ahead, Cropp said "talk is cheap," then listed what she said were her extensive accomplishments in advancing gay rights and AIDS-related legislation and funding in the Council for more than 20 years.

"Put them all together," she said, pointing to her fellow candidates. "They can’t beat the Linda Cropp record."

Brown supporter Sterling Washington, the former president of the D.C. Coalition, which represents ...