Saturday, March 20, 2004

On Virginia's new anti-gay marriage or other arrangement legislation

Overlawyered has this post comparing Virginia to the Tennessee county that wanted to outlaw gay people.

The new Virginia law is HB 751. The final version, as amended, passed the Senate by a vote of 28-10 and the House by 77-21, and what it says is this: "A civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage is prohibited. Any such civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement entered into by persons of the same sex in another state or jurisdiction shall be void in all respects in Virginia and any contractual rights created thereby shall be void and unenforceable."

The next step, I predict, would be for the legislature to make it a criminal offense, akin to fraud or false pretenses, to obtain (or attempt to obtain) money or property or anything of value in Virginia on the basis of a claim of same sex marriage, civil union, partnership contract or "other arrangement." Maybe that's being saved for next year.

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