A federal judge Thursday has struck down Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.

“The court is compelled to conclude that Virginia’s marriage laws unconstitutionally deny Virginia’s gay and lesbian citizens the fundamental freedom to choose to marry,” said Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Government interests in perpetuating traditions, shielding state matters from federal interference, and favoring one model of parenting over others must yield to this country’s cherished protections that ensure the exercise of the private choices of the individual citizen regarding love and family.”

Wright repeatedly referenced the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1967 ruling that struck down Virginia’s interracial marriage ban in her 41-page decision.

Read more at Washington Blade

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Plaintiffs Joanne Harris and Jessi Duff (top) and Christy Berghoff and Victoria Kidd (bottom). Photo courtesy of the ACLU.

BY MICHAEL K. LAVERS
Washington Blade

A federal judge on Friday certified a lawsuit that two lesbian couples from the Shenandoah Valley filed against Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban as a class action.

Judge Michael F. Urbanski of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg ruled any same-sex couple in the commonwealth who is not married or legally exchanged vows in another jurisdiction can join the women’s lawsuit.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Virginia last August challenged the state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman on behalf of Christy Berghoff and Victoria Kidd of Winchester and Joanne Harris and Jessica Duff in Staunton.

Read more at Washington Blade

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Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring

BY The Seattle Lesbian

The Virginia attorney general announced Thursday that his office has concluded Virginia’s bans on marriages for same-sex couples are unconstitutional, and he will no longer defend legal challenges to the bans now pending in federal court.

“We’re pleased to welcome the attorney general and the commonwealth to the right side of history, and we want to be sure that whatever happens next will result in a quick, clear, and final decision affirming the freedom to marry for our clients and for all Virginians,” said Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia.

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Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Saturday signed an executive order that bans discrimination against LGBT state employees.

“An open and welcoming state is critical to the 21st century economy, but it’s also imperative for justice and fairness,” said McAuliffe during his inaugural address he gave after officially taking office.

McAuliffe repeatedly promised during his campaign against then-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that the first executive order he would sign as governor is a ban on anti-LGBT discrimination against state employees. Former Gov. Bob McDonnell did not issue such a mandate, but U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner as governor banned discrimination against state employees based on their sexual orientation.

Read more at Washington Blade

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BY JOSH ISRAEL

The Republican statewide ticket in Tuesday’s Virginia elections consists of three of the most anti-LGBT figures in Virginia political history. But as polls show a majority of Virginians now supporting marriage equality and employment non-discrimination, gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli II, lieutenant governor nominee E.W. Jackson Sr., and attorney general nominee Mark Obenshain have each moved in recent weeks to obscure his pro-discrimination history.

Jackson, a pastor and unsuccessful 2012 Senate candidate, has said gays and lesbians are “very sick people, psychologically and emotionally” whose minds are perverted. Cuccinelli, the current Virginia Attorney General and a former State Senator whose anti-LGBT obsession may have helped sexual predators go free and who opposed any legal recognition of what he terms, “what they’d like to refer to as ‘homosexual families,’” even opposed a state bill that allowed private companies to voluntarily provide health insurance benefits to employees’ domestic partners, Obenshain, a current State Senator, has also tried to obscure his own long anti-LGBT record.

Read more at ThinkProgress.org

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A rally against gay conversion therapy in Illinois (Photo: Andrew Ciscel/Flickr)

BY ADAM L. BRINKLOW
dot429

Should university LGBT centers refer students to ex-gay groups and conversion therapists if they ask for it, or do counselors have a responsibility to caution students against trying to change their sexual orientation? Colleges in Virginia seem to have opted for the latter, leading conversion advocates to call foul and say that schools have a burden to present “both sides” of the issue.

Public universities in other states told 429Magazine that they do not recommend that students, even those conflicted about their orientation, undergo any program claiming to change or cure homosexuality. “We never provide reparative therapy, because being gay is not a mental disease,” says Cassandra Nichols, director of counseling at Washington State University “The APA has guidelines about this and we follow them. It would be unethical not to.” Gay reparative therapy is illegal in California and New Jersey. Virtually all LGBT groups reject the practice.  Groups like NARTH still insist that the treatment is safe and that people should have the right to choose to undergo it if they wish.

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Same sex marriage supporters gather at Arlington County, Va., courthouse.

BY STEVE WILLIAMS
Care2.com

Proposition 8 legal super team David Boies and Ted Olson have set their sights on a new target: Virginia. Their aim? To bring marriage equality to the entire nation.

David Boies and Theodore “Ted” Olson once argued for opposite sides during the Bush v. Gore United States Supreme Court Case of 2000 that ultimately led to George W. Bush taking office as President of the United States for another term.

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A new poll from Quinnipiac University finds that a solid 50 percent of Virginians support marriage equality for same-sex couples, while 43 percent remain opposed. Support is highest among Democrats (68–26) and independents (52–39), while Republicans are inversely opposed (68–26).

Polls have consistently shown improving support for same-sex couples in Virginia. An April poll found a plurality of support for marriage equality (45–42), with 62 percent supporting the idea that gay and lesbian couples “should have the same legal rights as heterosexual couples.” In May, the Washington Post found 56 percent in support of full marriage equality, up 10 points from two years ago.

Read more at ThinkProgress.org

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