Washington DC's Same-Sex Marriage Recognition Bill Goes Into Effect Today

As mentioned earlier in a post retelling the drama surrounding this bill, today Washington DC's same-sex marriage recognition bill went into effect at 12:01 AM today. This marks in history the first recognition of same-sex marriages below the Mason-Dixon Line.

Under the new law, same-sex couples legally married in Massachusetts, Iowa and Connecticut will be recognized in the District, and soon in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont when their marriage equality bills go into effect. The 18,000 marriages in California performed before Prop 8 will also be honored as well as legal marriages in foreign countries.

The 200 rights in the bill include hospital visitation, district taxes filed jointly, spousal benefits of employees of private companies and employees of the District and the right not to testify against a spouse.

Though the District doesn't currently allow same-sex marriages to be legally performed within its borders, the District Council has been very clear that they intend to make that their next step.