Free Republic

The Washington City Council voted Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage in the nation's capital. The bill will be given to Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has expressed his support and vowed to sign the bill. If the mayor signs it, Congress will have 30 days to intervene before it would take effect. It is considered unlikely that the Democratic majority on Capitol Hill will block the bill Tuesday's second vote was needed to send the measure to Fenty. The council passed the bill in an 11-2 vote December 1. If the measure becomes law, Washington will join Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and...

Tuesday December 1, 2009 D.C. Council Overwhelmingly Approves Same-Sex "Marriage" Law By Kathleen Gilbert and Peter SmithWASHINGTON, DC, December 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - By a lopsided majority, the District of Columbia City Council voted this afternoon to approve legislation that opens the legal definition of marriage to include homosexual couples. The vote went through despite strong protests from the city's religious leaders who said that the law violates individual conscience rights and religious liberty. The "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009" passed on the first vote by an overwhelming 11-2 margin. The measure was predicted...

RICHMOND | The governors of Virginia and Maryland, both Catholics, said Tuesday that it would be wrong for the church to suspend or reduce social services in the nation's capital if the District approves gay marriage. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley criticized the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington's response to the District's gay marriage proposal during a joint appearance on Washington radio station WTOP. The D.C. Council is expected to approve gay marriage next month. The archdiocese says that unless the proposal is amended to add a religious exemption, its Catholic Charities won't be able to continue...

The D.C. City Council took one step closer to allowing same sex "marriages" in the District of Columbia on Tuesday when they voted the legislation out of the Committee on Public Safety & Judiciary. The panel refused to include protections for religious organizations--putting at risk the numerous churches in the region that provide goods and services to the needy who would have to decide between their faith or compliance with the city's commands. One of the largest area provider of relief services, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, took a stand yesterday, just as their counterparts in Massachusetts's had done in...

The D.C. Council is considering a law forbidding discrimination against those in gay marriages. The law would apply to all groups that have contracts with the District, including Catholic Charities, one of the city's largest social services providers. The Archdiocese of Washington says that because of the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage, it would have to suspend its social services to the poor, the homeless and others rather than provide employee benefits to same-sex married couples or allow them to adopt.

A cluster of socially conservative Houstonians is planning a campaign to discourage voters from choosing City Controller Annise Parker in the December mayoral runoff because she is a lesbian, according to multiple ministers and conservatives involved in the effort. The group is motivated by concerns about a “gay takeover” of City Hall, given that two other candidates in the five remaining City Council races are also openly gay, as well as national interest driven by the possibility that Houston could become the first major U.S. city to elect an openly gay woman

The D.C. Council introduced a marriage equality bill on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009. Public hearings were held on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 and supporters of marriage for same-sex couples significantly outnumbered those who testified against it. The full Council is expected to take an initial vote on Dec. 1 with a final vote by the end of the year.

WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's use of government resources to facilitate his recreational activities isn't limited to a police escort while he trains with his bike team. The mayor has used a federal Homeland Security vehicle to transport himself and his bike to at least 14 races in the past two years. The District's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency has two large SUVs, which are detailed to the city from the U.S. Government Services Administration. According to records obtained by WTOP through the Freedom of Information Act, the mayor's Executive Protection Unit has signed out one or both...

Greenbelt, a city that prides itself on its heritage as a New Deal-era social experiment, is finding its commitment to inclusiveness tested as two black candidates contend for seats on its all-white City Council in Tuesday's elections. Until this year, only two blacks had ever run for the council and none had been elected, even though blacks account for nearly half the 21,000 residents of the 6-square-mile city just outside the Capital Beltway, according to the most recent census estimates. Asians and Hispanics make up 20 percent. The disparity has caught the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union and...

Kevin Chavous is an African American and former Democratic city council member from Washington, D.C. He says he’s an Obama supporter, but he is distinctly unhappy with the president. Elections may have consequences, but no one expected that the White House would be so brazenly petty as to allow poor minority children in the nation’s worst school district to become the victims of political score-settling. That’s exactly what happened when the Obama administration killed off the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program several months ago. Of course, if the White House thought that it could pay off the powerful teachers’ unions, and...

The woman who successfully sued to have a Bible removed from a Harris County courthouse display is now suing to stop city council from opening meetings with prayers that she believes are too Christian. Kay Staley, a real estate agent and lawyer, argues religion and prayer are private matters that don't belong in government. She sued the city and Councilmember Anne Clutterbuck, saying the council's prayers are so overly Christian they violate the First Amendment separation of church and state. Clutterbuck was singled out for saying the Lord's Prayer. ...(Staley) argues the prayers are coercive to others who won't speak...

When Justin Tevis recently met with the Santa Barbara Police Officers Association to seek the union’s endorsement, he thought the meeting would be about ways to solve the city’s crime and gang violence problems. Instead, he was immediately handed a document with a pay scale showing how much Santa Barbara police officers made in comparison to similar-sized cities. He was stunned. In fact, reforming public employee salaries and pensions is among the top things on Tevis’ list of reforms if elected to the Santa Barbara City Council. “These are huge lobbying groups,” Tevis said. “These are huge power groups.” Tevis...

<p>The city of Lodi is facing a possible lawsuit after the City Council voted to support a policy of saying prayers before council meetings.</p> <p>After the vote Wednesday, an official with the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation repeated the group's threat to sue the city.</p>

My Dear Activist Friends in Philadelphia, I have spent as much time on the city budget and the impact of the federal budget on Philadelphia as anyone here--and for more than 25 years. In 1980, I led a town meeting in South Philadelphia on the Reagan Budget cuts that was later blasted in a column by Pat Buchanan as 'fomenting class warfare.' I helped Mayor Wilson Goode coordinate the town meetings on the City budget that propelled him to run for Mayor. As a Councilman, I reported regularly on what the Reagan cutbacks were doing to us as a city....

Local city council invocations ...

As yet another exhibit in the ongoing argument against government education, I offer this video which was sent to me by one of my students. Two points. First, this partially explains why California is bankrupt. Second, you want to turn over your healthcare to the government that produced this girl’s worldview? It’s no wonder Obama won…

Brilliant Woman Solves All of California's Problems It's nice to see that Miss Teen South Carolina is trying to make a difference now that she's all grown up.

It's not easy having to choose between religion and education. Some would even say it's not fair. But for those people whose religious holidays aren't recognized by the public school system, that's the choice they have to make. Yesterday, the City Council's Education Committee advocated to eliminate that dilemma -- at least for Muslim families. The committee passed a resolution that would call upon the city Department of Education to incorporate two major Muslim holidays into the school calendar. The committee has also been pushing for the introduction of a state law that would require schools to close on those...

If you don’t understand the uproar in Friendswood about the city’s plan to issue $11 million in debt without voter approval, just ask yourself a couple of questions: What if city leaders are completely right about the legal question? Is it still a good idea to borrow money without asking voters for their approval? Is a good idea to obligate them when they have clearly indicated they want a say about any debt they’d be responsible for? City officials have asked a judge in Travis County for a ruling that says the city can issue certificates of obligation to finance...

FRIENDSWOOD — The city has asked a Travis County judge to say it is legal for Friendswood to issue $11 million in debt without voter approval. The city had planned to issue $11 million in certificates of obligation to fund roads, parks, an animal shelter and a records building, but some residents said the city charter prohibited the city from issuing certificates of obligation. While bonds require voter approval, certificates of obligation do not. The city charter was amended by voters in 1997 to prohibit the city from issuing debt without voter approval that it could not finance from its...