A 'racial divide' over gay marriage in DC?

After the Washington, DC. City Council voted 12-1 to recognize out of state gay marriages a few weeks ago, some are asking if there is a "racial divide" between black opinion and white opinion in the liberal city.

Former mayor Marion Barry, once a supporter of marriage equality, cast the lone vote against recognizing out of state same-sex marriages. And in so doing, he aligned himself with the conservative elements of the black religious community in the District.

Washington Examiner reporter Bill Myers interviewed both sides of the controversial debate and found black ministers like Bishop Harry Jackson, the pastor of a mega-church in Maryland, making the usual complaint that gays are trying to copy from blacks. Jackson asks: "Why do they get to appeal to blacks as if blacks are their property and I can't go to that same group?"

But gay activist Richard Rosendall says the whole racial divide story is nothing but "a red herring" to create the appearance of a black-white divide. "Bishop Harry Jackson and his allies like people to believe there is [a racial divide]," says Rosendall. "They seem to be doing their best to stoke one."

See the full story here.