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WaPo Poll: Majority in DC Back Marriage; Race, Education Divide

There are some interesting statistics in a new Washington Post poll on marriage equality. The survey finds Washington D.C. residents overall support the recently approved marriage equality law 56-35 but there are racial and educational divides. A slim majority (51 percent) of blacks in the District oppose marriage equality but that changes based on education and church attendance.

The Washington Post:

Nearly six in 10 D.C. residents, including 83 percent of whites, favor making it legal for gay couples to marry. The broad support for same-sex marriage in the District's white community cuts across cultural lines that divide opinions on the matter nationally. Regular white churchgoers nationwide generally oppose same-sex marriage, but two-thirds of whites in the District who attend services monthly or more often support same-sex marriage.

African Americans tilt against same-sex marriage. Thirty-seven percent of black residents back legal same-sex marriage. A slim majority opposes it, and the bulk of opponents say they feel that way strongly. But some divisions are evident in the local black community on this issue, with sharp divides by church attendance and education.

One in five African Americans who attend church services weekly favor same-sex marriage, and support rises to 47 percent among those who attend less often. A narrow majority of black college graduates supports gay marriage, compared with about a third of African Americans with less formal education.

The poll indicates that council members Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7) were representing their constituents' views when they became the only two members to vote against the same-sex marriage bill.

So approximately half of black DC residents that have a college degree or do not regularly attendance church support gay marriage. That's good news and trending with national averages.

The poll also finds that despite widespread acceptance, some 59 percent of residents would prefer to vote on the issue. But ... "If it lands on the ballot, however, the District would be well positioned to become the first state-level jurisdiction in the country where voters embraced same-sex marriage, according to the poll."

WATCH: D.C. Council Member David Catania Introduces Marriage Bill

As promised, Washington D.C. Council Member David Catania introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia.  The bill should pass easily. Mayor Adrian Fenty says he will sign the bill.

Ten of the Council's 13 members have signed on as co-sponsors. The three Council members who did not join the majority as co-sponsors—Harry Thomas Jr. (Ward 5), Yvette Alexander (Ward 7) and Marion Barry (Ward 8).—represent majority black communities. Barry, who was a strong gay rights supporter during his term as mayor in the 1980s and early 1990s, emerged as the Council's sole opponent of marriage equality and claimed to oppose it on "moral grounds."

Alexander and Thomas voted for the same-sex marriage recognition bill earlier this year and have said they want to carefully review Catania's full same-sex marriage rights bill before making on final decision on whether they will support it when it comes up for a 'first-reading' vote that's expected in November. Activists familiar with wards 5 and 7 have said Thomas and Alexander are facing intense pressure from ministers and socially conservative constituents to vote against same-sex marriage.

D.C. has a very large and well-to-do black gay community. So far, most have maintained radio silence during the marriage equality debate. Maybe they're still recovering from all the summer circuit parties and barbecues ...

JUMP to watch Catania introduce the bill.

Passage of D.C. Marriage Equality Bill Said to Be Imminent

Washington D.C. is poised to become the only jurisdiction south of the Mason-Dixon line where same-sex couples can marry, reports the Washington Post.

After months of buildup and behind-the-scenes lobbying, a bill by David A. Catania, one of two openly gay members of the council, has been drafted and is ready to be introduced in the coming weeks. Catania (I-At Large) expects a final vote before the end of the year. On Thursday, Catania said he had 10 co-sponsors, all but assuring that the measure will be approved by the council. The bill would have to survive congressional review before it could become law. Gays and lesbians from across the country would probably flock to the city to take their vows, as they did in California before voters passed a referendum banning same-sex marriages. Gay rights activists in Maryland said the sight of gay couples getting married in the District would boost the chance that the General Assembly would approve a gay marriage bill within a few year.

Sources tell the Washington Blade that Catania will introduce his bill before month's end.

The three Council members who have not committed to supporting the bill—Harry Thomas Jr. (Ward 5), Yvette M. Alexander (Ward 7) and Marion Barry (Ward 8)—represent majority black communities. Alexander is thought to be a swing vote. In May, she supported the ordinance that recognized same-sex marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions and was threatened by anti-gay black pastors.

Anti-Gay Black Pastors Threaten to Unseat D.C. Council Member

The fallout continues from this morning's vote by the Washington D.C. City council, which approved legislation 12-1 that would recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions. After creating "mayhem" in the Council chambers and being forcibly ejected by security, anti-gay black pastors determined to fight marriage equality in the District "threatened" to unseat Yvette Alexander, one of the Council's black members who supported the bill, reports The Advocate.

Council member Yvette Alexander, who described herself as a Christian, noted that the Stonewall Democrats' D.C. chapter, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, had endorsed her based on the totality of her record in spite of the fact that she does not support same-sex marriage. "So when I did not agree on that one issue, they did not negate all the good works that I had done. The ministers on the other hand," Alexander said, "the ministers have really upset me to the point that they have questioned my Christianity, they have questioned my morality." Alexander said some ministers had threatened to run a Christian against her in the next election. 

Even though Alexander voted to recognize gay marriages performed outside the district, she added, "I can honestly say I'm still at odds with the issue of gay marriage in the District of Columbia. I still want to learn more about that issue. But I do know one thing, I do know that everybody is equal under God."

The same ministers who "questioned the morality" of Yvetter Alexander have proclaimed Council member and former Mayor Marion Barry one of the city's "moral leaders". Barry—the four-times married, ex-convict, tax-evading crack addict caught in an FBI sting with a prostitute—was the lone vote against the bill.

Perhaps the ministers should spend more time worried about D.C.'s astronomical crime and HIV rates, which are killing more in their community than same-sex marriage?

Out of State Same Sex Marriage in DC [Advocate]