Mixing of oppressions
Washington DC has legally recognized same-sex domestic partnerships since 1992.
Congress put the executive smack-down on for ten years and didn't let DC actually uphold this law until 2002. This is possible because Congress has ultimate authority over DC, despite the residents of DC not being able to elect any real members of Congress. There are more people in DC than in Wyoming, and only a handful fewer than in Montana. (If memory serves, DC also wanted to recognize marriages performed in Massachusetts when those first passed, but Congress said they couldn't.)
DC is 55% black (and this used to be higher). All the mayors in this relevant time period have been black. Guess who I saw last time I went to Pride, and the Halloween drag race? That's right, the current mayor, Adrian Fenty. Also Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting delegate DC gets in Congress (she is also black (and one of the top coolest people "in" Congress)).
So just remember: Washington is the federal government; DC is a lot of disenfranchised, majority minority people who live in a city with a lot of crime and a lot of poverty, and a very high cost of living, paying taxes to a government in which they don't have representation.
Just another case to examine. This country could do with giving a lot more equality and a lot more rights to a lot of different types of people.
Also, today is my and Becka's second anniversary.
Congress put the executive smack-down on for ten years and didn't let DC actually uphold this law until 2002. This is possible because Congress has ultimate authority over DC, despite the residents of DC not being able to elect any real members of Congress. There are more people in DC than in Wyoming, and only a handful fewer than in Montana. (If memory serves, DC also wanted to recognize marriages performed in Massachusetts when those first passed, but Congress said they couldn't.)
DC is 55% black (and this used to be higher). All the mayors in this relevant time period have been black. Guess who I saw last time I went to Pride, and the Halloween drag race? That's right, the current mayor, Adrian Fenty. Also Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting delegate DC gets in Congress (she is also black (and one of the top coolest people "in" Congress)).
So just remember: Washington is the federal government; DC is a lot of disenfranchised, majority minority people who live in a city with a lot of crime and a lot of poverty, and a very high cost of living, paying taxes to a government in which they don't have representation.
Just another case to examine. This country could do with giving a lot more equality and a lot more rights to a lot of different types of people.
Also, today is my and Becka's second anniversary.