David Catania, DC City Council-member, is vowing to move forward with a marriage equality bill as soon as possible. This is a week after the Marriage Equality Coalition sent a letter, with 9 pages of signatures to him. In addition to our group, many are lobbying hard to see marriage pass now. This is evidence that the local government is listening to its constituency, and following through with promises that helped get some of its members elected.
There are a lot of naysayers out there who say that we should wait to push for marriage equality in Washington, DC. The time isn't right they say, Congress would strike any bill down. According to them we should focus energies on passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, and passing hate crimes legislation.
I say that this is the best possible time to move forward on this issue. Washington is a symbol, this is true. Surely Congress would take up this issue and a massive political battle would ensue. But if not now when? A representative from the gay and lesbian activists alliance think the battle should happen fifteen years from now. This is the kind of thinking that accepts the status quo and accepts nominal improvement as great victory.
We need marriage equality now. What better place to fight the battle than in the District of Columbia where 10 out of 13 city council-members as well as the Mayor openly support marriage equality. Instead of sitting quietly, avoiding a fight because we are afraid of losing, let's accept the fear and use it to energize us.
Marriage is more important to me than any of the other LGBT issues. It means assimilation, it means a realization of the American dream for so many LGBT families in this country, who live otherwise normal lives. By extending legal recognition to gay and lesbian families our community will show a new image, thereby helping to slowly wash prejudices away. If the law recognizes our relationships, slowly more in the general population will as well.
Let me close with a quote from Catania himself, published in the post article. "I'm tired of leaning over the fence at the playground, waiting to be bullied,' says Catania, who is gay. 'I am unwilling to live under the confines of civil unions or domestic partnership laws, which needlessly and gratuitously say I am not the equal of everyone else. This proposal is about the radical notion that we can all just get on with our lives."
