Proposition 8 connects to Virginia

The election season is over and while many were focused on the presidential contest, other issues were at stake. California’s Proposition 8 overturned same-sex marriages that had been declared legal in May.

In light of Virginia’s marriage amendment that passed in 2006, David Ryder, chair of Gay Pride Virginia, says the methods California activists use to fight Proposition 8 will help set the groundwork to overturn Virginia’s laws.

“I think it has a very strong ability to affect us directly,” Ryder said.

Virginia’s marriage amendment states, “Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage . this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effects of marriage.”

Ryder says this means the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community do not have equal rights. He also says the language of Virginia’s law has repercussions for many unmarried couples in committed relationships, not just same-sex couples.

“It impacts many people across the board because . the wordage is so severe that it is designed to prevent future attacks,” Ryder said.

Ryder says people should care about these issues regardless of sexual orientation.

“There are many people who were not people of color who voted for equal rights,” Ryder said. “There are many people who would want to support this next stage of equal rights.”
According to the Web site SupportMarriage.com, 61 percent of Californians voted in 2000 to define marriage as occurring only between a man and a woman. However, the site states, judges changed the law.

“The Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage did not just overturn the will of California voters,” the site states. “It also redefined marriage for the rest of society, without ever asking the people themselves to accept this decision.”

The Web site states people should support Proposition 8 for the sake of California’s children.

“It protects our children from being taught in public schools that same-sex marriage is the same as traditional marriage.”

Elisa Oliver is a Richmonder who works at an area YMCA. She is also a lesbian and says most people who are against same-sex marriage think it is a moral issue.

“I think that people see it as a break down of the morality in the United States,” Oliver said.

Oliver says people with this view are too focused on sexual imagery.

“Usually the people that are disgusted by it probably don’t know any gay people personally,” Oliver said. “People overlook the idea that people are connected on a human level and it’s not just a physical thing.”

Oliver says she doesn’t think it is necessary to call unions between same-sex couples marriages.

“I don’t need the state to tell me I can be with someone of the same sex,” Oliver said. “I think that same-sex couples should be able to share the same rights and amenities . they should be universally available.”

Ryder says it’s important to pay attention to California in order to “set up a framework” for the legal battle the LGBT community is having in Virginia and the rest of the country.

“We are very much on the forefront of a civil rights struggle,” Ryder said.

An article by Trudy Chun on the Concerned Women for America Web site expresses concern about the same kinds of legal framework Ryder is looking for.

“Once homosexuals have a test case, litigators will challenge the U.S. Constitution’s ‘full faith and credit’ clause,” Chun states.

According to Chun, these are moral issues, not civil rights issues, because, she says, homosexuality is a choice, not a legal minority.

Ryder said it is important for people to better understand the LGBT community because it would be harder to vote against measures favorable to them, if people had more knowledge.

“I feel that a community is not able to reach its full potential if it comes from a perspective of intolerance,” Ryder said.

Queer Action, a student organization, works to promote tolerance on campus.

Queer Action president Felicia Ryan O’Donnell said the group’s meetings and events are meant to promote understanding. Events include the Day of Silence, when participants put tapes over their mouths and hand out fliers around campus about unspoken difficulties in the LGBT community.

“Queer Action has over 300 members, with regular attendance of anywhere from 10 to 20 people who come to events,” O’Donnell said.

Officers of Queer Action sometimes are asked to speak in the dorms in efforts to increase awareness and enhance student connections.

“I’m still surprised that there are kids out there that aren’t accepting of the gay community,” said freshman Cameron Robinson. “I do feel like a lot of the problems stem from the previous generation.”

Many students are of a generation that has grown up exposed to LGBT culture, O’Donnell said, whether through television or even someone close to them.

“Our generation has the advantage of having grown up seeing Ellen DeGeneres be gay, ‘Will and Grace’ on TV and things like that,” O’Donnell said. “All those things help people be more aware at least that gay people are there.”