Virginia voters just passed an amendment to the State Constitution restricting marriage to the “union between one man and one woman” and banning civil unions. It’s a defeat for gay marriage advocates, but some choose to see a silver lining.
“We always knew the work needed to continue,” says Dyana Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia and field director for The Commonwealth Coalition, which was created to fight the marriage amendment. “Even if we had won, we would have had to face another amendment in the next election.”
Mason says the next step is to try and overhaul the make-up of the General Assembly because, as she says, “Virginia doesn’t have activist judges.”
The Virginia American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken a more direct tack by focusing on a provision of the amendment that restricts the State from recognizing “a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage.”
“This is causing anxiety for a lot of couples” of every variety, says Rebecca Glenberg, legal director for the ACLU’s state chapter. Terming it “broad and vague,” the Virginia ACLU charges that the provision will lead to third-party challenges of existing agreements between unmarried couples. Although the section has yet to be challenged, the ACLU has offered to represent plaintiffs in a test case.
Until then, people like Dyana Mason lead the effort to repeal Virginia’s gay marriage ban. While she allows that some gay couples may leave the state, she hopes most will reconsider. From her vantage point, important headway was made.
“We earned the good will of Virginians across the state, which is not insignificant as we continue to build support,” Mason says. She also cites better than expected turnouts in Henrico County and even rural, usually red Nelson County. Lynchburg was especially reassuring: 60 percent of the population voted in defiance of neighbor Jerry Falwell. “And [the state] had the third-highest percentage of ‘no’ voters in the nation,” she adds. “Virginia is much more mainstream than people realize.”