Republicans Block Effort To Remove Gay Marriage Ban From VA Constitution

RICHMOND, VA — Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates voted Tuesday to block an effort to remove a gay marriage ban from the state’s Constitution.

The resolution, sponsored by Del. Mark Sickles (D), would have brought a voter referendum to Virginia voters to decide whether to repeal a constitutional provision defining marriage as only a union between a man and woman.

The Republican-led House Privileges and Elections subcommittee voted 6-4 to block the proposal to remove the gay marriage ban, which remains in the Virginia Constitution despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2015 that legalized gay marriage in all 50 states.

Josh Hetzler, counsel for the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia, warned in testimony before the subcommittee that the measure could open the door to legally sanctioned polygamy, inter-family marriage, and child marriage because it did not include language limiting marriage to two people, The Associated Press reported.

But Virginia already has laws that ban polygamy, inter-family marriage and child marriage, according to the Virginia Mercury.

The proposed constitutional amendment stated that “the right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of persons and requires the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions and agents to issue marriage licenses, recognize marriages, and treat all marriages equally under the law, regardless of the sex or gender of the parties to the marriage.”

“Religious organizations and clergy acting in their religious capacity have the right to refuse to perform any marriage,” it said.

After the vote against the constitutional amendment, Sickles, who represents parts of Fairfax County, confronted Hetzler. “You guys are so far from Christian,” Sickles said. “How about you try a little love in your life.”

The gay marriage ban was added to the Virginia Constitution in 2006.