Same-sex marriage proponents in the District may not want to celebrate just yet. The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics may have delivered them a victory, deciding earlier this week that the issue cannot go before the voters in a referendum “because it would authorize discrimination prohibited under the Human Rights Act.” But the war to preserve “traditional marriage” in the nation’s capital certainly isn’t over.

Opponents had sought to repeal D.C. Council legislation that compelled the government to recognize all gay marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions.  Stand4Marriage, the coalition of clergy and District residents who requested the referendum, knew that overturning council action wouldn’t be an easy feat. Not only was there the hurdle of the Human Rights Act, under which proponents claim same-sex marriage falls under, opponents would have had to collect more than 20,000 signatures from registered voters in less than four weeks.