Action Alert: Bills to Strip Natural Marriage, Gender Pronouns From Law & Criminalizing Spanking!
As the General Assembly begins its first full week tomorrow, the new majority party is wasting no time in its plans to tear down all vestiges of male and female in our state Code, criminalizing thoughts, and even criminalizing parents for ordinary discipline of their children! I know this sounds too sensational to be true, but keep reading and then please TAKE ACTION right away!
*Note: You will only be able to send the Email if your Senator is on this Committee.
SB 17 (Ebbin, D-30) and SB 39 (Edwards, D-21) would formally repeal the statutory prohibition on marriage between individuals of the same sex. While the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 issued a lawless 5-4 Opinion forcing so-called same-sex marriage on all 50 states, God alone has authority to define marriage, and Virginians have rightly recognized that definition in our laws. That’s where it belongs, even if Virginia officials refuse to enforce it. Marriage still matters, it will always matter, and it matters now more than ever.
SB 247 (Surovell, D-36) removes the titles “husband” and “wife” from the laws about divorce. This is a similar attempt to scrub from the record all traces of the reality of male and female as God designed.
SB 32 (Petersen, D-34) actually criminalizes parents for using ANY inanimate object to discipline their own child, whether it’s a paddle, a ruler, or even a fly swatter! Perhaps realizing just how insane this law is, the patron added the stipulation that for a parent who “has not previously been convicted of such offense, the court may defer the proceedings against such person, without a finding of guilt, and order him to parenting classes or other appropriate treatment programs.”
We know from Proverbs 13:24 that “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” So for parents who show their love for their six year-old child by taking a paddle to their behind when they’ve disobeyed, this bill would make them a criminal!
The Judiciary Committee will also hear SB 179 (Favola, D-31), which adds “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” to the list of “hate crimes” for which a person can receive an enhanced penalty for certain crimes if those traits were part of the motivation of the crime. To be sure, all violent acts against innocent persons should be punished. But “hate crimes” do more than that. They actually criminalize a person’s mere thoughts separately from their actions. This is very problematic, because if the government has the power to criminalize certain thoughts it finds disfavorable, then there is no reason it couldn’t criminalize any thoughts. The bill is also problematic because it treats completely subjective feelings – “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” – as objective personal identities in law. As we have seen many times, this sets up inevitable conflicts, particularly with those whose faith dictates their understanding of human sexuality.
Please Take a Moment to Ask Your Senator to OPPOSE These Bad Bills!
