The Virginia Marriage Amendment

Delegate Bob Marshall is the House of Delegates author of Virginia’s 2006 voter approved one-man, one-woman Marriage Amendment which was initially struck down by only one judge, Norfolk federal district Judge Wright-Allen, with the help of Virginia’s current Attorney General, Mark Herring who was elected to uphold the Virginia Constitution and the citizen-approved Marriage Amendment passed overwhelmingly in 2006.    

Legislating through the Courts against the will of the people is lawless disregard for our representative form of government.  The collective will of 1.329 Million Virginia voters after who approved the Marshall-Newman Marriage Amendment after the measure was passed by the Virginia House of Delegates and Senators twice, should not be undone by a solitary judge who incorrectly attributed a quote to the U.S. Constitution which came from the Declaration of Independence. (Judge Wright-Allen had to issue an amended opinion to correct her mistake which is fairly unprecedented.) 

A Faulty Comparison

State and federal judges, who overturn Constitutional Amendments or State Referenda after the people have spoken in support of traditional Marriage, have attempted to compare the denial of interracial marriage with the denial of same-sex marriage. The centuries-long struggles of Americans of African descent cannot be likened to behaviors associated with the LGBT “lifestyle.”

Unjust segregationist practices once rampant in Virginia such as separate hotels, restaurants and water fountains, and denial of voting or educational opportunities, are not equivalent to the experiences of homosexuals who have not been denied equal education, employment, housing, transportation, or service in restaurants.

The Fourteenth Amendment Argument

Several judges have cited the Fourteenth Amendment as the basis for their failure to uphold traditional marriage laws, yet sodomy was a criminal act in all but five of thirty-seven states at the time this amendment was ratified in 1868.  Moreover, in 1961, all 50 states made sodomy subject to criminal penalties. 

Judges who have declared Marriage to be between two men or two women obviously think they are smarter than Moses or Jesus Christ.  They exhibit extreme hubris and lack of judgment in assuming that anyone who disagrees with same sex marriage is motivated by hate.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  For millennia marriage was understood and upheld as the union of one man and one woman.  Even Barack Obama hekd this public position in 2012!   It is not true that those who support traditional marriage are motivated by hate or bigotry!   

The Loving v. Virginia Case Argument

Federal judges who claim that so-called same sex marriage is compelled by the US Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia striking down laws banning interracial marriage, could not have read that decision, do not understand it, or are simply making up their own conclusions. The Loving decision and the briefs in support of it assume marriage is only between one man and one woman.   

The natural marriage relationship of man and woman predates all religions.  A society which values eating natural foods, drinking pure water, and protecting our natural environment would do well to recognize and respect the self-evident design in Nature which allows for the continuance of the human race by the union of man and woman.

Marriage provides for raising children by a mother and a father

Same sex “marriage” discriminates against children by denying them either a mother or a father. Modern social science acknowledges the harm done to children by absent fathers.  Even the United Nations warns that children should not be separated from their mothers at an early age. Furthermore, when we deny children (biological or adopted) both a father and a mother we are saying that a man and a woman, a mother and a father, are interchangeable and that neither offer unique capabilities or qualities in raising children.  

Same sex “marriage” upends thousands of years of societal disapproval of certain sexual behaviors and contradicts timeless moral teachings of all major religions.

Equality of persons is not the same as equality of behavior.  No one should disrespect any human being.  Neither should the state condone or promote sexual behavior that does not serve the common good and which has unfortunately led to serious illnesses which harm individuals and overburden our health care system.

Declaring homosexual “marriage” a civil right means our children will be taught in school that it is hateful “discrimination” to oppose homosexual “marriage” and that there is no difference between homosexual and heterosexual “marriage.”  Churches, businesses or individuals which decline to assist in GLBT marriage services for moral or religious reasons will be found guilty of “unjust” discrimination. Penalties and sizable fines have already been imposed in states where laws or local ordinances proclaim sexual orientation a protected civil right.  

Closing Adoption Agencies, why?

Churches have assisted with adoptions for thousands of years, yet some church adoption agencies have closed rather than be forced to place children for adoption with homosexual couples.  As more church based adoption agencies end adoption services, hundreds of thousands of children will be left with fewer adoption options, a terrific injustice to the children who deserve both a mom and dad, not to mention that the generous mother might prefer her child to be raised in a home with a mother and a father.

Why Limit Marriage to Two People?

If homosexuals are allowed to marry “whoever they love,” then it will not be long before bisexuals are allowed to marry two people, polygamists several, and pedophiles, children!  There is no logical line to draw once marriage as we have known it from the beginning of time is altered.  

The homosexual “marriage” movement is not about “tolerance,” but about forced submission to a world view which violates the deeply held values of many Virginians.   God loves all His children. We cannot judge hearts. Thankfully God reserves that role to Himself.  But we must judge actions and uphold common sense and morality to preserve the common good.

Further, homosexual behaviors have serious adverse health consequences.*

 "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned."

- Thomas Jefferson

Authorized by Bob Marshall, candidate for House of Delegates.
Paid for by Friends of Bob Marshall.