Marriage Amendment On Track

In the vast African plains of the which roam with Republican state senators, SJ 92 (companion to HB 101), which will amend Virginia's constitution to keep marriage between a man and a woman is on track. The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee reported it out favorably, with only 3 arch-liberal Democrats who sit on the committee (Janet Howell, Benny Lambert, Mary Margaret Whipple)opposing. With moderates like Ken Stolle and Jeannemarie D. Davis on board this train will be arriving on your ballot and mine in November 2006.

On the house side of things, I'm a little surprised by a few of the votes on Friday by some of our newly elected Democrats. Shannon Valentine and David Bulova (replacing "yea" votes of '05 Preston Bryant and Chap Petersen) are voting to the left of their district by standing in opposition. The same can be said of Chuck Caputo and David Poisson, but their election as "moderates" meant comparing them to Chris Craddock and Dick Black (so you could argue that they went after the gay vote so hard they had to risk reprisal from their otherwise pro-marriage amendment districts). Marsden ducked the vote, which may be good fodder for those on both side of the aisle who are looking to put up a fight with him next time around. Sophomore Vienna Delegate Steve Shannon, the lone member of the Northern Virginia Democratic delegation to vote for the final passage, probably made the wisest move, that is, voting for all attempts to delay and amend the bill before finally consenting.