Same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia

Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in the District of Columbia since December 18, 2009, when mayor Adrian Fenty signed a bill passed by the Council of the District of Columbia on December 15, 2009. Following the signing the measure entered a mandatory Congressional review of 30 work days. Marriage licenses became available on March 3, 2010, and marriages began on March 9, 2010. The District became the first jurisdiction in the United States below the Mason–Dixon Line to allow same-sex couples to marry.

In addition to recognizing same-sex marriages, since 1992 the District has also allowed residents to enter into registered domestic partnerships; since the passage of the Domestic Partnership Judicial Determination of Parentage Act of 2009, the District recognizes civil unions and domestic partnerships performed in other jurisdictions that have all the rights and responsibilities of marriage. The law gives the mayor discretion to recognize relationships from states with lesser benefits.

Domestic partnership in the District used to be open to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. One of the unusual features of the original bill establishing domestic partnerships was that it allowed partnerships to be created between people who were related by blood (e.g., siblings or a parent and adult child, provided both were single). All couples registered as domestic partners are entitled to the same rights as family members and spouses to visit their domestic partners in the hospital and jail and to make decisions concerning the treatment of a domestic partner's remains and estate after the partner's death.

The measure also grants District of Columbia government employees rights to a number of benefits. Domestic partners are eligible for health care insurance coverage, can use annual leave or unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a dependent child or to care for a domestic partner or a partner's dependents, and can make funeral arrangements for a deceased partner.

The original bill establishing Domestic Partnerships in the District of Columbia was known as "The Health Benefits Expansion Act". It was passed by the City Council and signed into law by the Mayor of Washington, D.C. The bill became law on June 11, 1992. Every year between 1992 and 2002, the Republican leadership of the U.S. Congress added a rider to the District of Columbia appropriations bill that prohibited the use of federal or local funds to implement the Health Care Benefits Expansion Act. The law was finally implemented in fiscal year 2002 after Congress failed to add the rider to the appropriations bill.

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