In 1997, the General Assembly passed a statute denying recognition of gay marriages performed in other states. The Code of Virginia first restricted marriage to different-sex couples in 1975, the same year clerks in Arizona and Colorado issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Bob Brown / Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, in Richmond, Va., on Feb. Texas decision, it took a full decade for Virginia’s to be struck down - and even then it was by a federal appeals court, not by legislators. Although the Supreme Court ruled that sodomy bans were unconstitutional in 2003’s Lawrence vs. “It tells them that they matter, that they are equal to everyone else in the state.”īut homophobic laws can have a long shelf life in Virginia. “For young LGBTQ people, or even those who aren’t married or don’t want to get married, removing this language is an important step,” Equality Virginia Executive Director Vee Lamneck said. Sixteen of them also ban civil unions, and two, including Virginia’s, prohibit any legal recognition of gay relationships. But 30 states still have such prohibitions written into their constitutions, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
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