Gentrification, gay marriage, and the gospel

Marriage | Demographic and cultural changes in the capital mean an uphill battle for traditional marriage advocates | Emily Belz

Associated Press/Photo by Jacquelyn Martin

WASHINGTON—When the city council in Washington, D.C., voted 12-1 in May to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, Marion Barry, the onetime mayor and scandal factory, was the lone dissenting vote. He predicted a "civil war."

"All hell is going to break loose," he said. "The black community is just adamant against this."

What he and other long-standing black city fathers discovered is that the "adamant" community had eroded underneath them. Demographic changes and waning church influence in politics left socially conservative blacks behind the same line in the sand as some staunch Republicans. On the other side: Mayor Adrian Fenty, the city council, lifelong gay activists, a growing band of liberal ministers, and a young, upwardly mobile work force that comprises an increasing number of residents in the city.