Tuesday, November 18, 2008
DC to Legalize Gay Marriage?
D.C. Councilman David Catania has proclaimed he is confident D.C. will pass a bill legalizing same sex marriage next year. Dale Carpenter wonders if his confidence is misplaced, given the overwhelming opposition to same-sex marriage expressed by Blacks in California. My response was to note that, just as White voters in Maryland have different views on gay marriage than those in Alabama, D.C. Blacks may take different views on the subject than their California peers.
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Sure, but I can tell you what aspects of white Marylanders makes them relevantly different from white Alabamans for the purpose of predicting views on same-sex marriage (the former have a higher average level of income and education, and a lower average level of religiosity particular within fundamentalist and evangelical beliefs, than the latter). What are the relevant differences between black Californians and their D.C. counterparts? Are D.C. black voters on average more educated, less religious, higher-income, younger and more male than Californian black voters?
Actually, that's exactly what I was thinking: DC is a noted hub of the bourgie-black set, with a thriving Black middle class and a strong Black political intelligentsia that sets the tone for the entire polity. Also, I'd wager that DC voters as a whole are more politically engaged than the typical voter anywhere else in the country.
I don't know the details of the DC home rule arrangement, but it seems that such a move would put the ball directly in Congress's court to overrule or condone it. I would guess the Dems would rush through a bill with very narrow language overruling it, to try (futilely) to keep it from blowing up into a big issue.
See, I think the opposite -- I think Dems will resort to all sorts of procedural shut-downs to block the inevitable push to overturn the will of the DC people from coming to a vote.
Good thing too -- anything that blocks the colonialist domination of the District is okay by me!
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