Fudgepackers at it again

Xomicron wrote:
*Gays and lesbians are angry and even threatening to leave the state over
a new law that will prohibit civil unions and could interfere with
contracts between same-sex couples.*

that wouldn't be bad

i wouldn't mind living in a fag-free state


Today: May 25, 2004 at 10:46:39 PDT

New Virginia Law Alarms Gay Activists

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Gay activists in Virginia are toying with a new motto
for the state: "Virginia is for lovers. Some restrictions apply."

Gays and lesbians are angry and even threatening to leave the state over
a
new law that will prohibit civil unions and could interfere with contracts
between same-sex couples.

Some legal experts call it the most restrictive anti-gay law in the
nation.

"I won't buy a home in Virginia. I'm done," said Bo Shuff, a 30-year-old
gay rights activist who has rented in the Washington suburb of Arlington
for the past two years.

Edna Johnston, a lesbian who has scuttled plans to move her historic
preservation consulting business from Washington to northern Virginia,
said: "It's not a signal, it's a message: 'You're not welcome.'"

The new law is an amendment to the state's 1997 Affirmation of Marriage
Act, which prohibits gay marriages. The amendment extends that ban to
civil unions, partnership contracts and other "arrangements between
persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations
of marriage."

Virginia's attorney general and other supporters say the law provides a
needed safeguard for the institution of marriage.

But some legal experts say the law is so vague that it could interfere
with powers of attorney, wills, medical directives, child custody and
property arrangements, and joint bank accounts.

"For the Virginia legislature to go as far as they did, knowing that this
is probably unconstitutional, to me it is a political statement," said
Henry F. Fradella, a law professor at the College of New Jersey who
specializes in gay rights law. "I have not seen anything quite so
radical."

The bill's sponsor, Delegate Robert Marshall, a Republican, said the law
is aimed at preventing same-sex couples from acquiring the benefits of
marriage through other means.

One state, Massachusetts, has legalized gay marriage. Civil unions are
legal in Vermont, and California and Hawaii have domestic partnership laws
that provide certain legal rights to gay relationships. New Jersey has a
partnership law taking effect July 1.

"Civil union is a proxy for marriage and domestic partnership is a proxy
for civil unions," Marshall said.

Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, the likely GOP nominee for
governor next year, has said he believes the law will pass constitutional
muster.

Conservative groups such as the Family Foundation have praised the law,
which passed the GOP-controlled legislature by a veto-proof margin after
Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner tried to make it less restrictive.

Warner said the bill interferes with people's right to enter contracts and
violates the 14th Amendment guarantee to due process and equal protection.
He said constitutional scholars urged him to veto it.

"I think the courts will show that it's unconstitutional," Warner said.
"This bill went way beyond gay marriage and civil unions."

The state's leading gay rights organization, Equality Virginia, is
discussing options for challenging the law, which takes effect July 1.

But some gays say the piling on of anti-gay legislation is starting to
wear them down.

Virginia is the only state where companies not large enough to underwrite
their own insurance policies are prohibited from offering domestic partner
benefits. The state also bans joint adoptions by same-sex couples and
refuses to list the names of same-sex couples from other states on the
birth certificates of children adopted here.

Lawmakers also shot down attempts this year to rewrite the state's
anti-sodomy law to conform with the U.S. Supreme Court decision that
struck down a Texas law against gay sex.

Barry Parsons, a 39-year-old lawyer, left Virginia for Washington in 1999
so he and his partner of 12 years could adopt a baby. He said Virginia
could suffer economically if more professional gays like him move out.

"I went to law school in Virginia and the state of Virginia invested a
substantial amount of money in my education," Parsons said. "After four
years I left and that's when my income started to pick up. Now all my
taxes are going to D.C."

Brad Haransky, a 43-year-old director of membership for a Washington
lobbying firm, said he and his partner moved to Virginia three years ago
to escape the city. Now they are thinking about moving back.

"If every gay person said, `We're out of here,' we'd crash the market big
time," he said. In some neighborhoods in Arlington, he said, "every third
or fourth house is gay-owned."

Victoria Cobb, lobbyist for the Family Foundation, called this a
"ridiculous threat."

"This reminds me of the Hollywood elite's reaction to Bush being elected,"
she said. "Virginia has always elevated marriage over all other
relationships. Traditional marriage is undeniably beneficial to the
economy."


Well, your subject makes one very glaring statement about you. It's not
an across-the-board, reasonably thought out argument that fuels your opposition
to same-sex couples, it's your dire fear that you may be a latent homosexual.
Only a man who questions his own sexuality lumps all gay people, male and
female under the heading "fudgepackers."

I'm gay, and believe me, I've never engaged in "fudgepacking."

Lack of the proper equipment, don't you know...

Shy Girl
(Melissa)


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