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D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has pledged to sign a same-sex marriage bill, which could reach his desk as early as next spring. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO JR COMMENTS
 
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districts would likely back an effort to overturn the gun control law, the Senate is expected to block any overturn measure that clears the House.
The Senate might take similar steps to block any House effort to kill a D.C. gay marriage bill, Hill observers have said.
Still, a D.C. same-sex marriage bill could face yet another hurdle even if Congress decides not to interfere with the measure. The city’s election law allows citizens to organize a ballot initiative to overturn a law passed by the Council if enough signatures are obtained to place the initiative before the voters.
Early polling data show that a majority of African-American voters in California were opposed to gay marriage and planned to vote for Proposition 8, which would amend the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
D.C. gay leaders, including those in the black community, have said they are hopeful that the civil rights tradition among black voters in the mostly black city would prompt them to reject any ballot measure seeking to ban gay marriage in the nation’s capital.
Several local groups, including the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance and the D.C. Coalition of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Men & Women, have joined forces to form the Foundation for All D.C. Families, which would lead opposition to any initiative to ban same-sex marriage in the city.
Many activists, though, believe that a gay marriage initiative here could prove to be a bruising battle as anti-gay groups from outside the city would likely pour money into the effort to pass such an initiative.
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