Dec 12, 2003  |  By: JOE CREA  | COMMENTS     

RICHMOND, Va. — Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Manassas) said Tuesday he will introduce a bill in the upcoming General Assembly session that would prevent the state from recognizing civil unions between gay couples from other states.

While Virginia has a law that bans the recognition of gay marriages from other states, it does not have a similar law targeting civil unions. Only Vermont allows civil unions between gays.

“You can go to Vermont right now and do it, and we’d be hard-pressed not to recognize it,” Marshall told the Associated Press.

Delegate-elect Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) who will be sworn in as the state’s first openly gay delegate next month, said such legislation is unnecessary.

“Virginia does not recognize civil unions now, and unfortunately the state won’t be recognizing them anytime soon,” said Ebbin. “If I thought there was any chance that we could pass civil union legislation I would be eager to discuss it, but there’s no likelihood of it happening, so it’s just not going to be productive to discuss it. I’ll be vigorously opposing his bill because it doesn’t mean anything, and also because it’s wrong.”

Marshall did not return Blade calls for this article.

Ebbin said that the state’s existing DOMA laws should be enough to satisfy gay rights opponents. He said that next year, Virginia must focus on the budget shortfall and not on social policy.

“It’s just kind of weird to see people like Bob Marshall wanting to put forward more and more social legislation,” Ebbin said. “They’re like hamsters running around and around on a wheel. They don’t care if it doesn’t have any effect, they just want to make the statement, even though they’ve already made the statement already.”

A misdemeanor for marriage?
Late last month Marshall said he is also working on legislation that would charge gay couples with a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison, for marrying outside the state and then returning to Virginia to have the marriage recognized.

Presently, the state’s code says that gay marriages are “void in all respects in Virginia and any contractual rights created by such marriage shall be void and unenforceable.”

“I don’t think even the heavily Republican state legislature is quite so extreme as to go along with what he’s proposing,” said Josh Israel, president of the Virginia Partisans Gay & Lesbian Democratic Club.

Last month, Marshall told the Daily News-Record that Virginia law makes such a plea a “prohibition without a penalty.”

“It sends the message that the Republican Party has sent for years: we don’t care about your families and we’re beholden to an extremist fringe controlled by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson,” Israel said.

David Lampo, vice president of the Log Cabin Republican Club of Virginia, also criticized Marshall’s proposal.

“We are aware of this latest ploy by Delegate Marshall and, of course, we oppose any legislation that would outlaw civil unions,” Lampo said. “We already have a state DOMA, and it’s just one more example of how obsessed with people’s sexuality that members of the far right in the Republican Party are.”

Another way to strengthen the existing ban on recognition of gay marriage in Virginia would be to amend the state’s Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Amending the Virginia Constitution is a Herculean effort that takes a minimum of 3-6 years, activists say. The amendment would have to pass two successive legislative sessions separated by an election.

Ebbin said he is encouraging all Virginia residents, particularly those outside the beltway, to contact their legislators to voice opposition to Marshall’s proposal.