As Neighborhoods Change, So Must Politicians' Views

Shouldn't this be a simple matter of mathematics? If Bishop Long's congregants have been moving out to Prince George's County, and new residents of Shaw have been registering to vote, doesn't it stand to reason that District politicians would set aside their reflexive support for the church and cast their lots with the voters?

No.

In the District, pride and prejudice often trump the political forces that rule other places. Those who sense that their home is being taken from them may not be a powerful voting bloc, but they still wield power.

Especially over gays. The District has been unusually open to gays for decades. But today, even with two openly gay men on the D.C. Council, many gays, like many blacks in Shaw, feel besieged. To make way for the new baseball stadium, a decades-old gay club district is about to be razed. The District promised to find alternative sites but hasn't. And now the Be Bar standoff.

"The city is really saying that gay people are expendable," says Phil Pannell, a Ward 8 activist who was the mayor's assistant for gay issues. "The whole gentrification battle gets even more complex now. People who felt pushed out by income and race now have to deal with sexual orientation, with people who their religious beliefs tell them are an abomination."

The ABC Board, loath to weigh in on morality, tends to stretch out conflicts like this for a year or more, hoping that one side or the other will just go away.

No business can wait forever. Scripture Cathedral actually put its building up for sale a couple of years ago, just to test the waters. Everyone has a price.

But the forces of faith and love are eternal.

In the end, the city will have to recognize that neighborhoods change.

You can debate morality until the end days, but in politics, numbers talk.

Join me at noon today for "Potomac Confidential" at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline.