Virginia is for lovers- some restrictions apply

[commander bunnypants]

:crazy: bumper sticker I saw this morning. I almost spewed

CB

[underpants]

1. Yeah..um..that's the saying for those opposed to Va.'s anti-gay laws

http://www.thestranger.com/2004-06-24/ex5.html

More specifically, people who know I'm originally from Northern California ask why I now live and work in Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, where the commission of a Lincoln statue caused a significant grassroots uprising last year. Virginia is the state that didn't vote to ratify the Women's Suffrage Amendment until 1952 (after rejecting it in 1920). Until last summer's Supreme Court ruling, Virginia was one of 13 states that still had a sodomy law. Just 10 years ago, it was illegal to serve alcohol to a "known homosexual."

And Virginia continues to lag behind the rest of the country in other important ways. Neither sexual orientation nor gender identity is included in the state's employment discrimination or hate crime laws. The commonwealth doesn't allow second-parent adoption for gay and lesbian couples. And Virginia is the only state in the country that prevents private companies from providing health benefits to the domestic partners of their employees. In addition, Virginia passed its own Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1997, and gay and lesbian people are today still forced to face the reality that coming out could mean a loss of job, children, and family.

All this from a state whose motto is "Virginia Is for Lovers."

The piéce de résistance, however, came this past April when the Virginia General Assembly passed the "Affirmation of Marriage Act." One of the most restrictive anti-gay laws in the country, the law, which goes into effect on July 1, reads:

A civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage is prohibited. Any such civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement entered into by persons of the same sex in another state or jurisdiction shall be void in all respects in Virginia and any contractual rights created thereby shall be void and unenforceable.

[MountainLaurel]

2. And if that's not enough

Here's the latest out of Richmond:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6204-2005Feb7.html

The Virginia Senate passed a resolution Monday calling for an amendment to the state Constitution that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, in an effort to permanently prohibit same-sex unions.

Virginia is one of more than three dozen states that ban the recognition of same-sex marriages. But proponents of the resolution said a constitutional amendment is necessary to protect state law from court challenges that have given gay men and lesbians the right to marry in Massachusetts and recently in New York City.

"America will only be as strong as its families," said Sen. Nick Rerras (R-Norfolk). "We must do all we can to uphold the sanctity and dignity of marriage, which is the foundation of our society, our community and our nation."

Similar legislation is expected to pass in the House of Delegates on Tuesday. To become part of the constitution, the proposal must pass the General Assembly again during the next legislative session and then must win approval from the state's voters in November 2006.