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Community Corner

AG Herring and VA's Same-Sex Marriage Ban

 I support Attorney General Mark Herring’s position that Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. 

I believe AG Herring has it right when he says that the United States Constitution is the law of the land, and that Virginia needs to firmly plant itself on the right side of history and on the right side of the law.

The U.S. Supreme Court has already invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act, and has declined to rule against gay marriage in California.

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Virginia’s marriage ban conflicts with Section 1 of our own state Constitution which says:

“Section 1.  Equality and rights of men. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

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Virginia’s Marriage ban also conflicts with the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which says, “…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The number of states allowing gay a marriage has doubled the last couple of years. The Federal Government has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act.  The U.S. military has lifted its ban on gay service members.  Slowly the majority of Americans have come to reject discrimination against gay people. It is not a matter of if the remaining states will allow marriage for all, but when.

This is a public policy issue, not a religious issue. Lifting the ban on gay marriage would not require or compel individual churches, mosques or synagogues to marry gay couples. These are private institutions with their own doctrine. They can choose to either marry not marry gay couples, based on their own belief systems. Some religions choose to allow gay marriage. Nevertheless, the lifting of the ban would apply to civil marriages.

The state of Virginia has a sad history of fighting to “protect” its bans against integration, against inter-racial marriage, and against allowing women into VMI. Today, as the Sochi Olympics are conducted, the United States and the UN Secretary General have condemned Russia for its discriminatory policies and attacks on its gay citizens. Embarrassingly, Virginia also fights to hold onto similar antiquated laws.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

I am proud of AG Herring’s efforts and I hope that the Virginia will soon choose to reject government sanctioned discrimination, remove any discriminatory laws from our state code, and become the welcoming state that it professes to be.


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