Tag: Virginia

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Poll: 55% of Virginians support marriage equality

Just seven years after Virginia passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting same sex marriage in the state, polls show public opinion on the issue following national trends:

A new poll released by the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBT advocacy group, found 55 percent of Virginians polled supported same sex marriage. Researchers also found 71 percent of respondents under the age of 30 support gay marriage.

The bipartisan poll was done by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Target Point Consulting from June 26-30, 2013.

Support for same-sex marriage varied in different parts of Virginia, the poll found.

68 percent in Northern Virginia support same-sex marriage
53 percent in Central Virginia support same-sex marriage
51 percent in Eastern Virginia support same-sex marriage

“There is no question we’re making movement when it comes to fairness and equality across the country,” Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said.

(via WTVR)

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ACLU files marriage equality lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit today in Pennsylvania on behalf of 23 residents of the state who are seeking marriage equality. The lawsuit is the latest to be filed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in favor of same-sex marriage in June.

The group of plaintiffs, which includes 10 couples, two minor children of those couples, and one widow who recently lost her partner of 29 years, argue Pennsylvania’s own Defense of Marriage Act violates both the fundamental right to marry and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The ACLU also announced today that it will amend an existing adoption lawsuit in North Carolina, and will file a marriage lawsuit in Virginia as co-counsel with the ACLU of Virginia and Lambda Legal in the coming weeks.

More at Advocate

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Virginia: Attorney General Cuccinelli denied sodomy law review

On March 12th, a three-judge panel ruled that a section of Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” a section of Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” statute that outlaws sodomy between consenting adults, gay or straight, is unconstitutional based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2003 known as Lawrence v. Texas.

Virginia’s Attorney General, Kenneth Cuccinelli, filed a petition with the 4th Circuit US Appeals Court to reconsider the determination. The petition requests what is known as an “en banc” hearing before the full 15 judges to reconsider the earlier ruling by the three-judge panel.

Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond issued an order on Monday denying the petition.

None of the court’s judges requested a poll among themselves to determine which, if any of them, favored Cuccinelli’s request for an en banc rehearing of the sodomy case by the court’s 15 active judges and one senior judge.

Under court rules, if no judge calls for a poll or vote on the issue, the petition for a rehearing is automatically denied in what, in effect, becomes a unanimous decision.

“It’s a pretty resounding rejection,” said Claire Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia. “There really wasn’t any interest in doing this at all by anybody.”

Jon Stewart had fun with the story Tuesday night:

(source)

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Virginia: Gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe supports marriage equality

McauliffeVirginia gubernatorial candidate (and former DNC Chairman) Terry McAuliffe told attendees at an Equality Virginia dinner on Saturday that he supports marriage equality.

However, he said he would not make repealing the 2006 state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage a top priority, and instead focus on the economy.

From the Times Dispatch:

“We just went through this process here seven years ago; it’s in the constitution,” McAuliffe said in an interview at the 10th annual Commonwealth Dinner hosted by Equality Virginia, one of the state’s advocacy groups for gay rights, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.
However, McAuliffe said he would not tolerate any form of discrimination in the commonwealth. “We’ve got to make sure that Virginia is open and welcoming to everybody,” McAuliffe said.
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Fifty-nine percent of Virginians support legal recognition for same-sex couples

A new Public Policy Polling poll shows that 59 percent of Virginians support legal recognition for same-sex couples in the form of civil unions.

A majority, though, is still opposed to full marriage equality, with 54 percent saying same-sex marriage should be illegal.