Virginia Delegate Tries to Repeal State Gay Marriage Ban
Delegate David Englin, D-Alexandria, wants Virginia to repeal its constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. He says the amendment, which voters approved four years ago, is unfair to gay and lesbian couples. So he's trying for the third time to repeal it. "If we are to take our founding values seriously, where we say that every human being deserves equal treatment under the law, then we cannot enshrine in the Constitution a policy that boils down to nothing but bigotry," Englin said.
In the 2006 general election, 57 percent of voters supported amending the Virginia Constitution to say: Marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
Virginia will not recognize "a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage." Nor will the state recognize "another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage."
