As of Jan. 29, David Catania (I-At Large) (SFS ’90, LAW ’94) is running for re-election as an at-large member on the D.C. Council in 2011.

Catania is well-known in the District for his support of same-sex marriage. He has consistently pushed for recognition of same-sex marriage both in the District and in the nation, culminating with the passing of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009, which he introduced, by the D.C. Council in January.

“It’s something [Catania] [has] believed in strongly, for a long time,” said Ben Young, Councilmember Catania’s chief of staff, “It was never a question of if, it has been a question of when.”

In October 2009, Catania’s Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 was introduced to the Council. It passed the Council 11-2 on Dec.15 and was signed by Mayor Adrian Fenty on Dec. 18. It is now going through the 30-day congressional review period before passing into D.C. law.

“We’re optimistic that we’ll be successful,” Young said of the bill.

According to Young, Catania’s biggest priority right now is health care, as he is the chair of the Council’s Health Committee.

Rev. Anthony Motley, a Democrat turned Independent, has been the only candidate to throw his hat in the ring in the race against Catania. Motley, a member of the Baptist Church, has no elected political experience, but has actively participated in political affairs in Washington. In 2001, he formed the J.O.B.S. Coalition of Greater Washington, which seeks to create jobs for the disadvantaged youth in D.C. He has also aided societies combating AIDS in the District, and advised the White House between 1987 and 1990 on drug abuse, according to The New York Times. He is also considered an ally of Marion Barry, according to the D.C. Wire. Barry, a former D.C. mayor and current member of the D.C. Council, served six months in federal prison after being caught with drugs during his time as mayor.

Barry was the only councilmember to consistently vote against the same-sex marriage bill. Motley has openly stated his support for domestic partnerships and gay rights, but has yet to decide whether he supports same-sex marriage, according to The Washington Post.

Catania has had a turbulent political past. He first won a council seat in 1997 in a special election, in which only 7 percent of the city turned out to vote, according to The New York Times. He won re-election in 1998, 2002 and 2006, according to The Washington Post. Through 2002, however, Catania ran as a registered Republican.

“When [Catania] grew up in Kansas, his family was very Republican, but in the sense of the old Republican Party, Lincoln’s party, the one that fought for abolition,” Young said. “That wing of the party seems to have died out, it’s shifted to a socially conservative party, not the Republican Party that he grew up with.”

Leading up to the 2004 presidential election, however, Catania came under fire from his party for directly criticizing President Bush’s support for a movement to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, according to the Post. After the the Party stripped him of delegate status before the Republican National Convention, he endorsed John Kerry’s campaign for the presidency, removing himself from the Republican Party and later declaring himself as an independent. “