Virginians to Vote on Gay Marriage

 
Nicole Olsen, Fairfax, VA- Virginia’s Bill of Rights was written by George Mason in 1776.  This document, which the United States Bill of Rights was later based on, has been amended only twice since it was written 230 years ago.  Later this year, voters in Virginia will decide whether it should be amended again. 

Last week, the Virginia Senate voted 28 to 11 in favor of a proposed amendment that would bar same sex marriages.  The Virginia House of Delegates approved a similar proposal last month.  As a result, a referendum will be held this November and the state’s voters will decide if “only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid” in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

 This referendum has sparked debate throughout the state as supports of the amendment and gay rights advocates clash on the issue. 

 Dillon Vrana, a (something) major and co-chair of George Mason University’s Pride Alliance said of the amendment: “It’s not surprising.  We all know that Virginia is a conservative state and this is just another way Virginia is becoming more conservative in its legislation.”

 Virginia law already bans same sex unions.  However, a Maryland circuit court ruled earlier this year that such laws violate that state’s constitution.  As a result, Virginia legislators are seeking to reinforce Virginia’s prohibition of these unions.  Senior Jessica James-Shannon, a communications major and active conservative, says, “I’m afraid that the same thing would happen in Virginia as Maryland because we haven’t put it in specific writing in the state constitution.”

 Delegate John A. Cosgrove (R- Chesapeake), a supporter of the amendment, was quoted by the Washington Post as saying, “The family is the foundation of our society, and it’s been based on the union of a man and a woman since the inception of marriage.  A constitutional amendment . . . will protect that."  Vrana disagrees: “This debate is not 100% about marriage.  Not everyone in the gay community necessarily believes in marriage or plans to get married.  What is really at stake here is the rights of gays to do the same things as anyone else in this country.”

 Some members of the state senate voiced their disapproval of the proposed change.  Senator Mary Margaret Whipple told the Post, “I feel an overwhelming sense of sadness today to think we are deliberately doing something so intolerant, so discriminatory, and so overreaching.”  However, James-Shannon did not see it this way.  She told the Broadside, “The gay community thinks of [the amendment] as violating their rights…but I feel that the way the founding fathers wanted marriage to be was between a man and a woman.  That’s how it has always been.”