Fenty Staff Blamed For Objections to Domestic Partnership Bill

An update to a report we brought you three weeks ago. Apparently it was staff in the Administration of hottie and gay-friendly Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, not the mayor himself, who angered gay activists by opposing a domestic partners bill and calling for weaker non-discrimination protections for transgender prisoners.

A mayoral spokesperson said Fenty plans to review objections raised by the D.C. Attorney General’s Office to a bill that’s before the City Council to grant full legal parental rights to domestic partners.

The spokesperson, Dena Iverson, said the mayor also would review public comments over a proposed regulatory change by the Office of Human Rights and Commission on Human Rights that would exempt the Department of Corrections from complying with the D.C. Human Rights Act as it applies to transgender prisoners.

"I am concerned about this, but I have a lot of faith in Mayor Fenty," said lesbian activist Sheila Alexander-Reid, who worked on Fenty’s 2006 mayoral election campaign.

"I think that once his people are advised of the facts that they will see that they made a mistake, both on the human rights law issue and on the domestic partner issue."

The objections raised in July alarmed gay activists because this was "the first time in nearly a decade that a representative of a D.C. mayor has objected to such a measure." The Washington Blade goes further and raises serious concerns about process, quoting sources who "questioned whether the Attorney General’s Office and the Corrections Department consulted the Mayor’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Affairs on the two issues."

The Fenty Administration is considered a strong ally to the gay community and recently the mayor ordered a top-down review of the city'€™s legal options for same-sex couples in the District who go to California and Massachusetts to marry and ask the DC government to recognize their marriages.

Activists Fault Fenty Staff in Flap Over Gay Bills [WaBlade]

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Comments

[Derrick from Phiily]

I wish Mayor Fenty was my domestic partner.

[Gerald]

You ain't never lied Derrick.

[Charles W]

I'm really proud to live in Washington DC and have Adrian Fenty as my mayor. He is very progressive a good leader and great on the issues. The gays love him. And yes he is absolutely sexy.

[S. Flemming]

I co-sign with Charles ... voting for Fenty was one of the highlights of my early days in the District.