Marriage Amendment Passes in Virginia :(:(

[bernadette88]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 9:56am

It passed with 57% of the voters voting yes. I know it's still an exciting time with the Democrats taking over the house and hopefully the senate, but I hate how this is putting us back a step:

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia voters easily approved a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, making the state one of nearly two dozen to pass such measures.
Close to 60% of voters favored the measure. Similar questions were on the ballot in seven other states Tuesday. Wisconsin and South Carolina joined Virginia in approving them, while results were pending in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Dakota and Tennessee. Similar amendments have passed previously in all 20 states to consider them.

BALLOT MEASURES: Initiative results by state

"We knew all along that a majority favored the amendment. It was just a matter of getting people to the polls," said Victoria Cobb, head of the Family Foundation, which pushed for the Virginia amendment. "Tonight, this issue has been settled."

Supporters celebrated with wedding cake at a downtown Richmond gathering, joined by Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

"Today Virginia said yes to traditional marriage," said McDonnell, who had issued a legal opinion supporting the amendment. "This is a victory for Virginia families, and the democratic process."

A few blocks away, Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, campaign manager for the anti-amendment Commonwealth Coalition, reflected on the loss.

"We ran out of time and money to have those kinds of conversations with voters that we still needed to have," she said. "Particularly in northern Virginia."

The amendment had the most opposition in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. But the rest of the state overwhelmingly supported the measure to restrict marriage to one man and one woman.

The amendment also blocks attempts to "create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage."

Virginia's Affirmation of Marriage Act already restricts marriage to heterosexual couples, but amendment supporters argued that a constitutional safeguard was necessary to prevent judges from forcing the state to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

Opponents said the amendment could potentially prohibit unmarried opposite-sex couples from obtaining property and hospital visitation rights.

They pointed to Ohio, where some domestic abuse cases were dismissed after judges said a similar amendment limited the reach of domestic violence statutes to married couples.

Both sides launched massive statewide campaigns: The Commonwealth Coalition has raised over $1 million since July, more than three times as much as amendment supporters such as va4marriage.org.

Supporters rallied pastors under a banner of "One man, one woman," contending that gay marriage contradicts biblical teachings and threatens the traditional family.

Opponents argued that Christian theology supports equality and said the amendment was about discrimination, not protecting families.

The measure was approved in two successive legislative sessions before coming to voters, the final step in amending the state Constitution.


Hopefully in the next few years a federal law will be put into place to override this decision!!
Updated On: 11/8/06 at 09:56 AM

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 10:04am

These are actually advances for us. It pushes the issues out of the state government. Our country is very still very "conservative" and it is important for Democrats to keep that in mind and not alienate them like Gore/Kerry did.

[bernadette88]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 10:08am

I guess I never looked at it that way. While I understand that we still live in a conservative nation, I just don't understand why people think they can deny other people the right to be happy and live their lives to the fullest!

[Kringas]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 10:11am

I just don't understand why people think they can deny other people the right to be happy and live their lives to the fullest!

Because they think god wants it this way.

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 10:15am

And because they're uneducated, dirt-eating morons.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 10:20am

Calvin's right!
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9402E5DC123BF930A25751C0A962948260

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 10:20am

And also I have to say, it doesn't help many of these ballots are cast in churches across the nation. If I were a Christian, and was pro-choice, it might be difficult to vote pro-choice in the "house of God."

I think marriage is a civil liberty and should be protected under the 14th Amendment.

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 10:56am

Uh oh, doodle. I hope William Schmidt (if he's still alive) is ready for an irate call from Atlanta!

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 10:56am

And I hope you're ready for an irate call from the pica patients!

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 10:59am

I had to look that word up. All I could think of was the type style pica (as compared to elite).

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 11:01am

Actually, Cal, Jackson Weeks in editorials took all the heat for this one :)

[Elphaba]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 11:08am

you know I have to chime in.
All Steve and I want are the same rights, benefits, etc of married people. We do not want their silly ceremony, which at least 50% of the time ends in divorce. We do not want to emulate straight marriage.
We are committed to each other, and that is good enough for us, in the sense of "marriage."
What is really wrong with all of this, is we are denied equal rights and protection under the law.
We do not need to be like them.......but we DO need the same rights, protection, etc that straight married couples receive.
THAT, and only that is what is important.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 11:11am

Elphie, all I ever ask is for the same rights my brother has. If the constitution protects his right to marry whom he chooses then it should protect me too.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 11:13am

For myself, I agree with you Elphaba...but some of "us" are religious.

I do think that civil unions will morph into either:
1. being synonomous with marriage
2. allowing gay marriage

...people realize that nothing bad is going to happen.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 11:36am

The thing that's interesting(?) about this is that, based on the numbers, a significant number of people who voted yes on this also supported the Democratic Senate candidate. Hm.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 11:43am

Yes, it points to how conservative this country is. Democrats need to learn from it. Also like I said, a lot of voting is done in churches accross the country.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 11:47am

Gay marriage is NOT going to happen through the courts and it's NOT going to happen through ballot initiatives (for a long time). It's going to happen though individual legislation, on a local level, one state at a time. That's how it's happened in Europe and Canada, and that's how it has to happen here.

Updated On: 11/8/06 at 11:47 AM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 12:24pm

It passed in South Carolina, too!

[Liverpool]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 1:18pm

eta

scratch that Updated On: 11/8/06 at 01:18 PM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 2:38pm

I guess doodle, we believe that the higher power recognizes our relationship, so any type of formal recognition isn't important to us, but receiving the same rights as a "married" straight couple is.

but I can see your point.

[Tom1071]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 2:51pm

I just don't understand what it is they think they are protecting. It makes me sick at my stomach that this is even an issue.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 2:53pm

Because God made Adam and Eve. Not Adam and Steve.

[Liverpool]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 2:53pm

but God DID make adam and steve. well, atleast if you believe god created all man in his image, then Adam and Steve were created by God.

[peach]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 2:54pm

They aren't protecting anything. This "protecting traditional families" is a load of crap.

This is when I am most glad I live in Massachusetts.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 11/8/06 at 2:55pm

When were Adam and Eve married?