Constitution Party of VA

The Virginia Marriage Amendment Campaign

By Tim Duskin, Member, State Committee, Constitution Party of Virginia

On November 7 in the General Election, a proposed amendment to the Virginia State Constitution will appear on the ballot. It defines marriage as being between one man and one woman and forbids homosexual marriages, Civil unions, and domestic partnerships. (This is unlike the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would forbid homosexual marriages but allow for homosexual civil unions.) These things are already in Virginia law, but it is necessary to place this amendment in the State Constitution in order to protect these laws from being overturned by activist judges. It will also be more difficult for activist judges to overturn laws protecting traditional marriage as more states pass such amendments to their state constitutions as this one.

It is a sad day in our Commonwealth when such action has become necessary. George Washington, Virginia’s greatest son, had sodomites drummed out of his army.

In a letter from the Family Foundation of Virginia dated November 2005, Victoria E. Cobb, the organization’s Executive Director, wrote:

Virginia is in the process of amending the state Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This action has become necessary due to the threat that a radical judge could at anytime force us to accept same-sex marriage.

It has happened in Massachusetts. It has happened in California. And with the record of judges and courts in our nation, it is likely to continue happening in other states.

To protect us from Virginia’s state courts doing what judges have done in other states, we must amend our Constitution.

And now, homosexual activists in Virginia are gearing up to fight our efforts with everything they have.

Our future generations are at stake. In countries where same-sex marriage is legal, marriage is quickly becoming irrelevant and obsolete. Studies have shown that in places like Scandinavia, fewer and fewer people are choosing marriage, even though they now have the option of same-sex marriage.

As a result, it is children who are suffering the most. An incredible 60 percent of children are being born into single parent homes in those countries! In the United States, we consider our out-of-wedlock birthrate a major crisis at 35 percent.

No compassionate society intentionally creates motherless and fatherless homes, but that is exactly what same-sex marriage will do.

A well funded and well organized campaign to defeat the Virginia Marriage Amendment is well underway. It is called Vote No Virginia and is backed by the Commonwealth Coalition. This is primarily an alliance of “gay” organizations, although it is being supported by some others such as People for the American Way. Its website is www.votenova.org

Equality Virginia, the largest “gay” organization in the state, is using its vast financial resources to hire regional campaign coordinators to defeat this proposed amendment. The campaign’s proponents (who include Governor Tim Kaine) are using bogus arguments, such as that the amendment’s language will affect contracts between unmarried couples, both homosexual and heterosexual. However, the laws which are on the books in Virginia now which do the same thing as this proposed amendment would do have never had such results and have never affected anything but marriage. But the Commonwealth Coalition’s campaign has great strength and polls show this amendment passing only by a narrow margin. We do not want Virginia to be the first state in which a state marriage amendment is defeated.

Thankfully, the Family Foundation of Virginia has formed and heads a campaign for the Virginia Marriage Amendment called va4marriage.org. It is composed of an alliance of pro-family organizations, and because we are committed to defending the family, the Constitution Party of Virginia stands with them. We urge all party members to become involved in this campaign this year. You can sign up to get involved in it and get resources and information at the campaign’s website www.va4marriage.org

Concerned Women for America of Virginia has also produced a 5 ½ minute long DVD explaining the Virginia Marriage Amendment entitled What God Hath Joined Together. They also have a pamphlet which refutes “gay” arguments entitled At the End of the Rainbow, which is a good resource. They are both available from the organization, which can be reached by e-mail at cwa-va@pobox.com. The organization’s website also lists Concerned Women for America of Virginia’s address and telephone number, from which these items can also be obtained. The website contains other valuable information as well. Its address is http://virginia.cwfa.org.

The website of Virginia is for Marriage also contains good information to equip us in this campaign. Its address is www.virginiaisformarriage.com

This one also contains links to many other good websites, including that of the Family Foundation of Virginia.

Two other resources also deserve mention. One is Abiding Truth Ministries, whose website is www.defendthefamily.com

Among its many resources is the book Defeating “Gay” Arguments with Simple Logic by Scott Lively. The other is the documentary movie Shaky Town, which shows the affects of open homosexuality upon San Francisco. It is available on both DVD and VHS at www.shakytownthemovie.com

Among the information and footage contained in this documentary are many solid arguments which refute “gay” allegations. I recommend the DVD version, because it contains bonus footage of additional valuable arguments.