discwiz

The front page of my Post this morning said,

"53% of Voters Say They Back Va. Same-Sex Marriage Ban"  -more on this later

First of all, Virginia already banned same sex marriages, which in my opinion is ridiculous. I've written about this in the past and will not revisit this issue at the moment.  A Virginia statute says "A marriage between persons of the same sex is prohibited." The statute was further updated to say a civil union, partnership contract or other arrangements between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage is prohibited, and void in VA if entered into in another state."

 Apparently, that isn't clear enough, so now a proposed amendment says

"That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions.

This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage."

So, what does this mean for us? Well, Virginia already banned same-sex marriage, but now same-sex people could not have contracts that are allowed to married people. And, unmarried DIFFERENT-sex people can not have those contracts either. 

Need a personal example? When you are married and buy a house with your spouse, in VA you can have the Right of Survivorship in your contract. That means that if one spouse dies, the other spouse gets the rest of the house and it doesn't have to go through probate. This is currently the case with unmarried co-owners that specifically include this right in their contract.  If this amendment passes, Jason and I will not be allowed to have this right because we are unmarried. In fact, any of our friends in this situation whether same-sex or not, will not have this right.

Now, back to the Post. Because many Virginians are scared that same-sex people might get to enjoy rights that are afforded to different sex people, they might be tricked into voting yes on #1 because they think it will ban same-sex marriages, when in effect those marriages are already banned and the amendment takes away many more rights than just marriage.

Therefore, whatever your opinion about same-sex marriages, please vote NO on your ballot question #1. Otherwise, you are helping to set our state back many years in rights equality.