LGBT rights in the District of Columbia
In the District of Columbia, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people enjoy the same rights as non-LGBT people. Along with the rest of the country, the District of Columbia recognizes and allows same-sex marriages. The percentage of same-sex households in the District of Columbia in 2008 was at 1.8%, the highest in the nation. This number had grown to 4.2% by early 2015. The District of Columbia is regarded as very accepting and tolerant of LGBT people and same-sex relationships, with a 2017 Public Religion Research Institute poll indicating that 78% of residents supported same-sex marriage. The District also explicitly bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and the use of conversion therapy on both minors and adults. Same-sex marriage legislation came into effect in March 2010, granting same-sex couples the right to marry, while domestic partnerships were legalized in 2002. Legality of same-sex sexual activity Recognition of same-sex relationships Same-sex domestic partnerships were legalized by the Council in 1992 through the Health Benefits Expansion Act, but the Republican-controlled Congress refused to approve the measure until 2002, when a legislative rider preventing congressional approval of the Act's implementation was not included that year. Afterwards, the domestic partnership provisions of District law were incrementally expanded. Same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia was legalized on 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. The District became the only jurisdiction in the United States below the Mason–Dixon Line to allow same-sex couples to marry, until neighboring Maryland legalized same-sex marriage on January 1, 2013. Domestic partnerships for same-sex and opposite-sex couples remain available as an option alongside marriage. The District has provided benefits to same-sex partners of state employees since 2002. Adoption and family planning Same-sex couples are allowed to legally adopt children. Additionally, lesbian couples have access to in vitro fertilization (the non-gestational, non-genetic parent is automatically recognized as a legal parent of a child born via donor insemination), and gay couples are permitted to undertake gestational and traditional surrogacy arrangements under the same terms and conditions as different-sex couples. On December 2, 2016, a legislative committee passed a bill, in a 9–0 vote, to allow commercial surrogacy contracts for all couples. On December 22, the Council of the District of Columbia passed the bill in its second reading unanimously by a vote of 13–0. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the bill into law on February 15, 2017, and it went into effect on April 7, 2017, after the 30-day congressional review had passed. Discrimination protections In the D.C. Human Rights Act, sexual identity and gender identity and expression are among its defined protected traits. Discrimination against these traits is illegal in housing, in employment, in public accommodations, and in educational institutions. In 1973,