RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s Legislature has officially placed a constitutional marriage amendment on the November ballot, giving voters in the state a say on the issue of “gay marriage.”
The Virginia Senate March 8 unanimously passed the bill that places the amendment on the ballot, two days after a unanimous House had done the same. The two chambers passed the bill after Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine had sent it back to the Legislature, suggesting only grammatical changes. The bill, HB 101, is a companion bill to the marriage amendment itself, which is contained in a separate bill (SB 526) and already had passed the House and Senate.
Even though the marriage amendment had passed the Legislature, HB 101 was required to put the amendment on the ballot. Virginia is the seventh state to place an amendment before voters for 2006, joining Alabama, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin. If all of them pass, then a majority of states — 26 — will have adopted such amendments by the end of this year. Nineteen states already have passed them. Virginia’s amendment would protect the traditional definition of marriage by banning both “gay marriage” and Vermont-style civil unions. Virginia already has a law protecting traditional marriage, although the law — unlike an amendment — can be overturned in state court.
The amendment would be added to Virginia’s Bill of Rights. (TAB)
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