by Patrick Appel
Here's Adam Serwer on what happens now that DC has voted for marriage equality:
Shortly after the D.C. City Council voted 11-2 to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples in the District, the room erupted into cheers and applause. Leaders from each side scrambled into the hallway to field questions from reporters. Bishop Jackson warned that his group would be "bringing their voices to the Hill" in the hopes of persuading a Democratic Congress to overturn the marriage equality bill; Congress has a month to overturn D.C. laws after they've been passed and signed by the mayor. Overturning the law this way would require majorities against the bill in both houses and the signature of the president, which Mike DeBonis points out is an unlikely scenario. But DeBonis also notes that there are other ways Congress could circumvent the law, either by restricting the city's funding or by adding riders to unrelated bills. Still, all that it will take for marriage equality to become law in the District is for Congress to simply do nothing -- something which Congress is generally pretty good at.
DCist argues that the marriage proceedings are also a victory for home rule.