gayboomers and the middle aged queer » Fenty signs gay marriage bill

Fenty signs gay marriage bill

Filed Under Gay History, Gay Marriage, Retirement | 9 Comments

Mayor Adrian Fenty

In a raucous signing ceremony at a northwest Washington church, Mayor Fenty officially legalized same-sex marriage in the District, distributing ceremonial pens among the Council members standing behind him. The law now will go through a period of review consisting of 30 days in which Congress is in session. If the law passes that hurdle — as is widely expected — the first gay marriages in the District could take in late winter or early spring of 2010.

The ceremony at All Souls Unitarian Church — one of many in the city that supported the legislation — opened with comments by Fenty, Council chairman Vincent Gray, and Council members Phil Mendelson, David Catania and Jim Graham.

In his opening remarks, Fenty recalled that when his own parents were married, many states would have refused to recognize their bonds. Fenty’s father is black, while his mother is white.

“Today an era of struggle ends for thousands of D.C. residents,” he said. “Our city is taking a leap forward.”

Sponsoring Council member David Catania (I-At Large) opened his comments with a little family history recalling how his ancestors had moved from Massachusetts to Kansas to try and swing an election and prevent it from becoming a slave state.

“So there’s a tradition of troublemaking in my family, and a deep and abiding understanding of civil rights,” Catania said.

Council member Jim Graham, whose district is playing host to the bill signing, offered his praise for the mayor’s staunch support of gay marriage.

“From the very beginning of this discussion, there was one certainty … and that certainty was that once we passed the bill, this man would sign it.” Graham said. “We’re here today to do just that.”

Read the full story with video here.

Technorati Tags: civil rights, D.C., equality, gay marriage, right to marry, Washington

Comments

9 Responses to “Fenty signs gay marriage bill”

Don Will on December 21st, 2009 1:52 am

New blog post: Fenty signs gay marriage bill http://tinyurl.com/yzbaszs
Axel Hotels on December 21st, 2009 4:58 am

Fenty signs gay marriage bill « gayboomers and the middle aged queer http://bit.ly/8EORtw
Tweets that mention Fenty signs gay marriage bill « gayboomers and the middle aged queer -- Topsy.com on December 21st, 2009 4:58 am

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Axel Hotels, Don Will. Don Will said: New blog post: Fenty signs gay marriage bill http://tinyurl.com/yzbaszs [...]
Mike Smith on December 21st, 2009 8:37 am

Fenty signs gay marriage bill « gayboomers and the middle aged queer http://bit.ly/8EORtw
Make Waves on December 21st, 2009 10:15 am

RT @gayboomers: Fenty signs gay marriage bill http://bit.ly/8Iyx0v
Nicole M. Cairns on December 21st, 2009 10:37 am

RT @MakeWavesBonnie: RT @gayboomers: Fenty signs gay marriage bill http://bit.ly/8Iyx0v
uberVU - social comments on December 21st, 2009 10:43 am

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gayboomers: New blog post: Fenty signs gay marriage bill http://tinyurl.com/yzbaszs…
David Eng on December 21st, 2009 12:31 pm

RT @MakeWavesBonnie: RT @gayboomers: Fenty signs gay marriage bill http://bit.ly/8Iyx0v
Mike Smith on December 21st, 2009 1:10 pm

Fenty signs gay marriage bill « gayboomers and the middle aged queer http://bit.ly/50h100