Virginia Is for (Homoracial, Heterosexual, Mentally Adequate) Lovers

[dean_dem]

By a razor-thin vote (49-48), the Virginia State House passed a bill in late February that would allow private companies to extend health insurance coverage to members of employees' households other than spouses or dependent children. The measure was surprisingly controversial, given that it included no legal requirement for companies to cover anybody and that every other state in the union already allowed private firms to offer such coverage. Why was the Republican-dominated State House so reluctant to allow greater freedom of private contract?

In a letter circulated to colleagues, delegate Richard H. Black (R - Loudoun) framed the issue in terms that are becoming all-too-familiar to gay Virginians. Black acknowledged that the bill did not "mandate same-sex benefits" but he warned that the "ultimate objective is to mandate such benefits for same-sex partners," so legislators should not push the state down this slippery slope.

...

By my conservative estimate, the effort to circumscribe gay relationships is not the Virginia legislature's first attack on private, contractual relationships in the past century; it's the third. The first two efforts are now almost universally condemned, if not always well remembered

More:
http://www.reason.com/hod/db042805.shtml

[autorank]

1. It's "the Republican disease."

The Republicans control both houses in the Virginia legislature. Crap like this didn't happen prior to that in post 1970's Virginia history. Now this! They even tried to pass an amendment to the VA constitution (written by Jefferson & Mason) to acknowledge that there is no intended separation of church and state. As always, the Democrats quoted Jefferson and even the Republican majority backed off.

On gays, they feel much feistier. It's a disgrace. The clear message to anyone with ears to hear is that the Republicans are fully and aggressively in favor of invading the basic right to lead your own life, in other words, the right of privacy which was so fundamental at the time the Constitution was written, the writers didn't feel it necessary to include it explicitly.

Things will change in Virginia quickly. We have an election this year and Warner has done a good job of rebuilding the Democratic Party here. The majority will be diminished greatly or erased and we'll have a new governor. If not, watch for Northern Virginians to find a long hidden Jefferson tome outlining the right of Northern Virginia to become its own sovereign state.