Major Disappointment: Gov Enshrines “Same-Sex Marriage” in Va Law
Sadly, last week Governor Youngkin signed HB 174 (D-Henson) into law, which establishes for the first time in our state Code the formal recognition and enforcement of so-called “same-sex marriage.” Aside from the obvious and numerous worldview implications of redefining the bedrock institution of marriage in law, HB 174 will jeopardize conscience and religious protections for those who officiate weddings, and it further embeds the dangerous and false notion that “sex” and “gender” are separate categories of human identity.
Since the bill arrived to the Governor’s desk more than 7 days prior to adjournment of the General Assembly, he was required either to sign, veto, or offer amendments to the bill, or else take no action and allow it to automatically become law without his signature. Despite our lobbying the Governor to either veto or at least amend the bill, he chose to affirmatively put his signature on it.
We urged the Governor to amend the bill if he would not veto it, including to strike the problematic word “gender” (since “sex” was already listed), but he declined. We also suggested amendments to strengthen religious protections for everyone performing wedding ceremonies, but the Governor signed the bill as is.
Among the other things the new law does, it forces local clerks of court and their deputies to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples even if doing so violates their conscience, similar to what was forced onto Rowan County, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who was thrown in jail and continues to face lawsuits for not signing her name to a license for a same-sex couple. She was afforded no religious accommodation whatsoever, and neither does this new law provide any religious accommodations for Virginia clerks.
The new law also broadly declares that “marriages shall be recognized in the Commonwealth regardless of the sex, gender, or race of the parties.” But it doesn’t say that only the government “shall recognize” same-sex “marriages” in the Commonwealth. Does this now mean that every individual and entity, including religious organizations and churches, must recognize same-sex “marriages” as valid marriages in every context? The implications of this directive are potentially vast and problematic.
Moreover, the bill pretends to protect churches and clergy from having to perform same-sex or transgender “marriage” ceremonies in violation of their faith, by offering a fig leaf statement of protection. But in fact, if anything, it only diminishes and calls into question existing protections. The language purports to protect only religious organizations and clergy (but not anyone else with religious or conscience objections), and then only when “acting in their religious capacity.” But it’s anyone’s guess what that means or how it might be scrutinized by those who would seek to target churches and pastors and attempt to have them officiate a same-sex ceremony. While we still contend the Constitution protects people in this regard, this statute may unfortunately lead to onerous lawsuits to validate those rights.
Still, one of the worst parts of this bill is that it further injects the concept of “gender identity” into the law by intentionally and unnecessarily separating the concepts of “sex” and “gender.” Without question, the drafters of this bill were seeking to single out and further normalize the problematic construct of gender identity.
While we remain grateful to the Governor for his good and helpful actions on other bills, it’s important that we make you aware of his disappointing action here. Natural marriage is – and always will be – essential to maintaining the Commonwealth and world we all want to live in, and which God has created for human flourishing. We can never forfeit marriage and think that we can affect meaningful and lasting change in all the other social ills we face. (i.e. Over 85% of Virginia abortions are to unwed mothers.) Therefore, even when our laws become corrupted and distorted, we can and must still strive for a culture that values and upholds natural marriage as a foundational pillar of civil society. For the sake of our own generation and especially the ones to come, we must double down on our efforts to uphold marriage.
