By Jackie Jones

Gay and lesbian couples are now able to marry legally in the nation’s capital. A large part of making that happen came from a direct campaign to win the support of the city’s African-American residents, long believed to be opposed to such a law.

Once dubbed “Chocolate City,” for its overwhelmingly black population, which formerly exceeded 70 percent, Washington is now a little more than 55 percent black. But African Americans still control local government and hold large sway over the culture of the city.

In states like California and Maine, where the legalization of gay marriage was overturned or rejected, or in polling on the issue in Florida, large majorities of black voters were opposed to the idea and, at least in California, credited with influencing the outcome of the vote.

Getting black Washingtonians to support the bill was considered critical to supporters of the legislation.

“In D.C., outreach to African Americans wasn’t part of the campaign. It was the campaign,” Michael Crawford, the leader of D.C. For Marriage, which supported same-sex marriage, told The Washington Post.

In Washington, the mayor and a majority of the D.C. Council are African American, as is the city’s non-voting representative to Congress. But old school politics rooted in the black church are beginning to give way to more progressive, coalition tactics with a younger generation that salutes its pioneers but forges a different approach to racial, social and cultural issues.

“First of all, D.C. has a much more progressive electorate to begin with. Secondly, here in D.C. you have a much more active lesbian and gay community, a black one. In fact, D.C. has the largest LGBT community coalition in the country,” said Philip Pannell, a longtime political and community activist in Ward 8, which has the largest concentration of African Americans in the city and is represented by former Mayor Marion Barry.

Pannell, a five-time president of the Ward 8 Democrats, a former advisory neighborhood commissioner and a president of the Ward 8 chapter of the AARP, said he believed the community interests of many gay and lesbian activists helped paved the way for conversations with the straight and religious communities about marriage equality because they were known quantities within the wider community.

“When we started going to the community meetings, people were actually receptive,” Pannell said. “They listened to the arguments for it with much more openness.”

But there were bumps and bruises along the way. There were rallies for and against gay marriage and court fights to force the measure to a referendum where, opponents believed, a majority of residents would likely vote against the proposal. In fact, an effort seeking an injunction to stop the law from taking effect was turned back at the U.S. Supreme Court and has been referred back to the D.C. Court of Appeals.

Supporters invoked Martin Luther King, Jr., and his fight for equal rights, arguing same-sex marriage was the civil rights issue of this generation, and targeted the religious community as well as civic leaders.

“What’s been different here is how aggressively they’ve come after religious leaders, how aggressively they have talked up the race issue, or I should say the civil rights issue,” Bishop Harry Jackson, a black pastor who has led opposition to the measure, told The Associated Press.

Unlike other states, however, there was no referendum on the issue. Elected officials, instead, voted the measure into law.

The measure always had the support of the Council, overall, and five of the seven black members on the 13-member council supported the measure. The two “no” votes came from Barry and Yvette Alexander, who represent largely black wards.

Barry, who long had a reputation for supporting the rights of the gay community, said he drew the line at marriage and also was voting the way his constituents wanted him to.

“I’m sure Marion voted the way the constituents he talked to wanted but the thing is the Democratic organization in Ward 8 voted for it and I was the one who introduced the proposal along with (Rev.) Dennis Wiley from Covenant Baptist Church.”

“I think it’s true that a majority of blacks are conservative on this issue and are opposed to it, but the black community is not monolithic and never has been,” said Wiley, who co-pastors the 500-member church with his wife.

“In the 21st century they understand more about sexuality and the complexity of sexuality,” Wiley said, adding that only a handful of scriptures address homosexuality and that much of that has been misinterpreted or taken out of context.

“If you look at the predominant themes having to do with love and justice and see that Jesus Christ reached out to meet people where they are and to accept people for who they are, I think there is room for disagreement,” Wiley said.

But Pannell and Wiley cautioned that advocates for same-sex unions cannot rest on their laurels.

“This is still in the Court of Appeals,” Pannell said. “We can still get a surprise ruling that could say we should go to a vote. My legal eagles have told me it’s not likely to happen, but there is the possibility.”

Further, Panell said, if Republicans regain control of Congress in the midterm elections, they could take action to block the enforcement of the law.

The District has limited autonomy under its Home Rule charter and Congress has the power to impose change when it doesn’t like the way the city is running its affairs.

“People who are supporters of marriage equality will have to remain vigilant.”

“I do think that there would be possibly more acceptance now that we’ve gone through this process,” Wiley said. “I see there is a change that is taking place, but at the same time we need to continue to be very vigilant on this issue. It would be foolish for those of us who support marriage equality to assume the fight is over.”

Jackie Jones is a freelance writer as well as a career and fitness coach for those who want to get their lives in shape. Her website is www.jonescoaching.net