Washington D.C. Says It Will Recognize Same-Sex Marriages from Other States

Today, on a unanimous 12-0 vote, The Washington, D.C. City Council has chosen to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The vote came just hours after the Vermont Legislature overrode a veto on a same-sex marriage bill by that states governor, making Vermont the fourth state to legalize gay marriage, joining Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa.

The District of Columbia bill, introduced by D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson, stopped short of legalizing same-sex marriage here in the District, but Washington law currently provides domestic partnerships for lesbian, gay and heterosexual couples. The partnerships give the rights and responsibilities of marriage.

The City council will hold a final vote on the measure next month, then the bill would then go to Mayor Adrian Fenty, a Democrat who supports gay marriage, for review.

If approved by the mayor, it would next have to go though the US House of Representatives for approval, most likely putting the District of Columbia on a collision course with the Federal Defense of Marriage Act and setting up what could amount to the first straight up-or-down Federal vote on same-sex marriage since the Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996.

“We look forward to the final Council votes, and urge Mayor Fenty to sign this common-sense legislation,” Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said. “We also hope that Congress will respect the Council’s votes and will respect the District of Columbia’s choice to provide equal recognition for couples who have legally entered into relationships in other jurisdictions.”

However, a statement released by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins condemned the votes in both Vermont and Washington, DC.

“Same-sex ‘marriage’ is a movement driven by wealthy homosexual activists and a liberal elite determined to destroy not only the institution of marriage, but democracy as well. Time and again, we see when citizens have the opportunity to vote at the ballot box, they consistently opt to support traditional marriage,” Perkins said.

“The radical left wants to destroy the traditional union of one man and one woman across the country and they will not rest until they do so. The marriage amendment movement has been many times more successful than the same-sex ‘marriage’ movement,” Perkins added.

Now for Mr. Perkins claim this all being driven by wealthy homosexual activists… Let me tell that lying SOB him this… I make a little over 30,000 dollars a year, live in the City of Washington DC with it’s out of sight cost of living and am a widowed lesbian mom who has two kids to feed. My children receive no federal survivor or social security benefits from their deceased mother because of the Defense of Marriage Act and people like Tony Perkins.

I am not by any definition, rich… but I wholeheartedly support this legislation and have supported measures like those in Vermont and DC anyway I can, up to and including writing a few checks to the HRC in my time and would gladly write more to see this happen across the country… and to see the day when people like Mr Perkins are viewed by Americans the same way as people like Grand Wizard David Duke are viewed today…

Mr Perkins would do well to remember his history… At its peak in the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan included about 15% of the nation’s eligible voting population and had a membership of over 6,000,000 people, but those people eventually saw the handwriting on the wall and wised up.

“Suddenly, they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king’s palace, near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote, and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him”….

Daniel 5:5-6