I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
If I didn’t live in New Mexico where even the notion of recognizing domestic partnerships provokes major controversy and ends in lopsided defeat, I’d be tempted to think that those who push for something called marriage equality have the upper hand lately.
First it was lonely Massachusetts, then California, then Connecticut (then California voters narrowly approved the marriage-nullifying Prop 8), and more recently Iowa and Vermont have all legalized same-sex marriage.
In fact, Vermont joined the club earlier today with a dramatic veto overide, and it’s especially noteworthy that this was an initiative of the state’s legislative branch, not the courts.
Also today, the City Council of Washington, D.C., voted to recognize lawful same-sex marriages performed in other states.
According to the Washington Post account, the D.C. council vote “sets the stage for future debate on legalizing same-sex marriage in the District and a clash with Congress, which approves the city’s laws.”
The story quotes Councilor Jim Graham, one of two openly gay members of the council, as saying:
It’s high time we send a clear, unequivocal message to those persons of the same sex and married in another jurisdiction that their marriage is valid in D.C.
In a press release earlier today, Joe Solmonese, the Human Rights Campaign president, applauded the decision — noting the doubly historic timing of the day’s events.
The D.C. Council’s votes today are another positive step toward equality, coming on the same day as the historic marriage vote in the Vermont legislature.
The nation’s capital city is, of course, not a state — and in fact, it will be interesting to see if a historically meddlesome Congress decides to let D.C. govern itself on this issue. If the city’s mayor signs the bill, it will then be reviewed by congressional overseers.
I’m assuming that big Democratic majorities in Congress mean that this particular bill won’t be reversed, but we shall see.
Another interesting angle on the D.C. City Council approving this particular bill — and approving it unanimously in a 12-0 vote — is that the nation’s capitol is a majority African-American city.
In the aftermath of Proposition 8 winning in California this past November, much was made of the fact that a large majority of black voters — according to exit polling — favored limiting civil marriage to only heterosexual couples.
According to the Census Bureau, Washington, D.C., is 55.2 percent black.
I guess that means African-American politics isn’t as hostile to equal rights for gay people as some might believe.
