Major Reversal in Gay Rights Looms in Virginia
RICHMOND, Va. — When it comes to adapting state laws to reflect social change -- such as women's suffrage, school desegregation and gay rights -- Virginia has always been a laggard.
Still, many here were stunned by the recent passage of a bill that would end all contractual rights between same-sex partners.
Critics say the law -- which takes effect July 1 and reaffirms the state's ban on gay and lesbian marriage -- could negate powers of attorney, wills, leases, child-custody arrangements, joint bank accounts and health insurance granted by companies that recognize domestic partnerships.
Henry F. Fradella, a law professor at the College of New Jersey who tracks gay-rights issues, said: "Nothing so homophobic has ever been enacted into law in this nation's history." The Washington Post called the bill "jaw-dropping," saying it violated "norms of basic fairness and decency." Gay rights groups termed it discriminatory.
The bill's sponsor, Republican state Delegate Robert G. Marshall, said he introduced the legislation because he feared people might get used to the gradual erosion of traditional marriages as a result of trends in other states: Massachusetts has legalized same-sex marriage; civil unions are legal in Vermont; gays have some domestic partnership rights in California and Hawaii; and a new partnership law takes effect in New Jersey on July 1.
In passing the bill by a veto-proof majority in April, the GOP-controlled General Assembly brushed aside an amendment by Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner, who sought to remove language banning any "partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage."
Warner, an opponent of same-sex marriage, questioned the constitutionality of the law. Critics contend it interferes with the right to enter into contracts and violates the 14th Amendment guaranteeing due process and equal protection.
"I will not support legislation that again takes Virginia so far out of the mainstream in terms of public policy," Warner said, referring to the state's past resistance to civil rights and other social reforms.
Virginia currently bans adoptions by gay and lesbian couples and places limits on the ability of some companies to offer domestic partnership benefits. And state lawmakers this year rejected efforts to rewrite Virginia's anti-sodomy law in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar ban in Texas.
