Sep 19, 2008  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR  | COMMENTS     

If Democrats expand their majority in Congress and California voters uphold same-sex marriage, a gay marriage bill is likely to be approved by the D.C. City Council as early as April 2009, according to activists and City Hall insiders.

With Mayor Adrian Fenty and at least 10 of the Council’s 13 members committed to passing a same-sex marriage bill, local activists and city officials have long said the only factor holding back such a bill has been the fear that Congress would invoke its powers to overturn it.

“We are reasonably confident that enough fair-minded Democrats will win election to the House and Senate in November to give us the votes we need to block an attempt to overturn a marriage bill,” said a D.C. government source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Gay activists said a vote in California to defeat Proposition 8, the state ballot measure calling for banning same-sex marriage, would provide a further boost for a D.C. same-sex marriage bill.

“Where California goes, so goes the nation,” said Evan Wolfson, executive director of the same-sex marriage advocacy group Freedom To Marry.

“When we hold on to California, it means that in January, the next Congress will have a minimum of 15 percent of its members representing people living in states where gay people can marry,” said Wolfson, referencing California and Massachusetts.

Sources familiar with the D.C. Council have said Council members David Catania (I-At-Large) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), both of whom are gay, are poised to introduce a same-sex marriage bill in January. As many as a half-dozen of their Council colleagues reportedly are ready to sign on as co-sponsors to such a bill, Council sources have said.

Catania and Graham have declined to specify when they plan to introduce same-sex marriage legislation, although the two have said they strongly support such a measure.

But at least one source familiar with the Council said Catania, Graham or another Council member would likely drop a same-sex marriage bill into the Council’s legislative hopper as early as January, aiming to pass it quickly and send it to Fenty’s desk no later than early spring.

“The idea is to send it to the Hill as soon as possible after the November election and as far as possible from the next election,” said the source, who was referring to the 2010 midterm elections.

Such a move would allow cautious senators and representatives who are sympathetic to gay rights to take steps, if necessary, to block an attempt by anti-gay lawmakers to overturn the bill, according to the source.

Last week’s primary election in D.C. did not change the make-up of the Council in terms of support for a same-sex marriage bill. Among the five Council incumbents who won easily in their Democratic primary contests, three — Kwame Brown (At-Large), Jack Evans (Ward 2), and Muriel Bowser (Ward 4) — have said they would vote for a same-sex marriage bill.

Councilmember Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), who breezed to victory in the primary, has said she supports civil unions and domestic partnerships rather than same-sex marriage.

Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), who won his primary contest with more than 70 percent of the vote, has said he opposes same-sex marriage on religious grounds, but would likely vote for a same-sex marriage bill if it came before the Council.

Carol Schwartz, who lost the Republican primary to political newcomer Patrick Mara, had been cautious about making a commitment to vote for a same-sex marriage bill in the past, but told the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance this year that she fully supports gay marriage in principle and would most likely vote for a marriage bill if she determines it could clear congressional scrutiny.

Mara said he “unequivocally” would vote for a same-sex marriage bill whenever it surfaces in the Council. Two independent candidates running for Schwartz’s at-large seat — Michael Brown and Dee Hunter — also have said they would vote for a same-sex marriage bill.

The remaining members of the 13-member Council, including Council Chair Vincent Gray (D-At-Large), have all expressed support for legalizing same-sex marriage in the District. Fenty has said he would sign such a bill as mayor.

Passage not guaranteed

But a recent decision by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other House Democratic leaders to allow a House vote to overturn part of the city’s gun control law raised the specter that even a Democratic controlled Congress might set its sights on overturning city laws, including a gay marriage law.

Other Capitol Hill observers have noted that while House Democrats from conservative-leaning, swing ...