Virginia's Proposed Marriage Amendment

Virginia is about to pass an egregious piece of legislation to imbed discrimination into our 200-year-old Constitution’s Bill of Rights.

I won’t lay out the usual talking points used to oppose this legislation. I imagine it will pass and that nothing I will say will change that. It appears that, nationally, social conservatives have selected this particular issue to rally their base and that the political and religious juggernaut set to define “marriage” in the very heart of our national and state constitutions is not going to be stopped at this time.

That said, I do ask that you consider this – and do so from the position of a common sense fair-minded Virginian, which has historically suggested those of wisdom, broad perspective, and an overarching stewardship of the most fundamental of American values: – freedom, liberty and equality. And to view this current debate in light of the values that our leaders daily espouse as bedrock to all policy: - foreign and domestic. For it is fundamentally an issue of freedom, liberty, and equality for the one out of every 15-16-17 Virginians that is at stake here.

I ask that you consider the burdens already imposed on your grandchildren: of particularly the looming public debt, a diminished social security net, the erosion of America’s stature in the eyes of many across the globe, and the rising threat of globalization. And in that context I suggest that adding sexual orientation discrimination to our state Constitution’s Bill of Rights will only add another burden that will require generations now to resolve.

Certainly you are aware of the march of change, and are able to see how freedom, liberty and equality have been the hallmarks of democracy throughout history. This is seen in concrete examples in the case of gay rights in progressive democratic countries, in the evidence of the scientific and medical communities, and particularly in the changing values of America’s youth who by significant majorities are tolerant to and receptive to the inalienable rights of homosexuals to live without the specter of government discrimination.

This amendment when passed will have no positive effect that any credible proponent has postulated. I am 62 and tell you that being gay in Virginia has been a burden I did not choose. This amendment will only further alienate, discourage, and deter gays – and at a time when we need the full participation and energy of all Virginians to compete in an ever more competitive global economy.

I only ask that you view this matter in the broad context of our state’s long fight for liberty, freedom and equality - and even if your vote or your voice will not stem this tide – that you will stand up as a courageous citizen and out of a vision of a future Virginia that offers fully equal civil rights to all of its citizens. This is congruent with the ideals of our founders and more likely will be viewed as such by a younger, educated, enlightened electorate that is marching towards us, who will live in this state long after close-minded obstructionists are forgotten.