District Weighing Boosts in Gay Rights

"On gay marriage legislation, the council is well aware of the risks," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), who has advised council members not to push the issue.

This year, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) warned that the city would trigger a sharp backlash from Congress if it pursued gay marriage.

Graham said playing it safe comes with its own risks. Congress could still find that the proposed incremental measures go too far.

"We could end up in the same circumstance as we would have with a full gay marriage bill," Graham said.

Supporters of gay marriage say the only way gains are made on civil rights is to constantly fight for greater freedoms. They point to the increasing number of other jurisdictions that have civil unions and gay marriage and say change is happening faster than anyone would have dreamed.

The Washington Blade, a weekly newspaper that covers the gay and lesbian community, has editorialized in favor of passing gay marriage in the District. Executive Editor Chris Crain said it is time for District leaders to stand up and register their voices.

"There is something about duly elected representatives doing it, even if Congress turns it down," Crain said.

Mendelson said that theory is "wishful thinking, akin to tilting at windmills."

"Congress has been debating different measures that would go the other way," Mendelson said, referring to efforts in favor of a constitutional ban on gay marriages.

Bob Summersgill, the former president of the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance, said that he doesn't know anyone in the community who doesn't want the right but that "no one, and I mean no one, can figure out how we get there.''

If the District did pass a gay marriage law, Summersgill said, "there would be a huge, bipartisan effort in both houses to squash us, and there wouldn't be a peep from anywhere in the country."