FAQ on Marriage Amendment
posted by daniel | 8:42 AM 
Marriage Amendment Myths
Q. Will the amendment ban same-sex marriage in Virginia?For the rest of this FAQ, see the Virginia Marriage Amendment website.
A. Virginia law already bans same-sex marriage and civil unions. The amendment simply protects current law from activist judges.
Q. What will change in Virginia if this amendment is passed?
A. Absolutely nothing will change in Virginia. Everything the amendment covers already is part of Virginia law, including a ban on homosexual marriage and civil unions, so no laws or regulations as currently applied in Virginia will change for anyone or any institution. This proves false the wild claims made by the homosexual rights lobby that, among other things, domestic violence cases might not be prosecuted or certain contracts would be prohibited if the amendment passes. But by amending Virginia’s constitution, we protect Virginia from activist state judges, such as those who legalized same-sex marriage and civil unions in Massachusetts and overturned Maryland’s same-sex marriage ban, from doing the same thing here.
Q. Will the amendment ban so-called 'civil unions' in Virginia?
A. Virginia law already bans civil unions, domestic partnerships, and any other union, partnership or legal status that attempts to approximate traditional marriage or confer the benefits of marriage. Legal contract rights will in no way be infringed upon. Again, the amendment doesn't change the law - it just protects it.
Q. Doesn't state law already limit marriage to one man and one woman? An amendment really isn't needed, is it?
A. The amendment is necessary because the only way to take the issue out of the hands of activist judges is a constitutional amendment. Virginia passed a defense of marriage act, but homosexual groups have challenged several state DOMAs in courts. Just recently a judge in Maryland ruled unconstitutional that state’s 33 year old ban on same-sex marriage. The only protection we have from activist courts is a constitutional amendment.
1 Comments:
There is diference between legislation that ends up in the Virginia Code AND an amendment to our Bill of Rights. Even Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison in 1789 was troubled that the desires of one generation be a stranglehold on the next. “The question Whether one generation of men has a right to bind another, seems never to have been started either on this or our side of the water. . . . (and) What is true of every member of the society individually, is true of them all collectively, since the rights of the whole can be no more than the sum of the rights of the individuals” And with 70% of 18-24 year olds favoring full equality for gays and lesbians, it seems un-democratic to impose the bias and prejudice (and ignorance about homosexuality) of an older generation, forever on younger, more tolerant citizens.
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