Same-sex Marriage Ban Called Bad Law

09/08/2006

They're not saying they're for it. They're not saying they're against it. They're saying a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Virginia is bad law.

More than 100 lawyers, joined by four legal scholars, have been enlisted by the Commonwealth Coalition -- a group formed to defeat the amendment in the Nov. 7 election -- to spotlight the measure's "significant and largely unpredictable legal consequences."

Former Attorneys General Anthony F. Troy and Stephen D. Rosenthal, both Democrats, and Wyatt B. Durrette Jr., twice a Republican candidate for attorney general and once his party's gubernatorial nominee, are among the lawyers warning yesterday that the measure threatens the rights of all unmarried couples to enter in legal agreements, including wills, trusts and do-not-resuscitate requests.

The current attorney general, Republican Robert F. McDonnell, has argued that such concerns are unfounded. He supports the amendment.

"These lawyers are saying that they don't agree with [McDonnell's] argument that voters have nothing to fear from this ambiguous and poorly drafted proposal," said Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, manager of the anti-amendment effort.

J. Tucker Martin, McDonnell spokesman, said, "We certainly have the utmost respect for the individuals listed in this press release, but we fundamentally disagree with their assertions. This amendment is about marriage remaining between one woman and one man in the commonwealth. The 'unintended consequences' argument is a red herring."

Without expressing their personal views on the amendment, the lawyers endorsed a memorandum by the high-powered Washington, D.C., firm of Arnold & Porter that said the amendment goes well beyond the state's existing statutory ban on same-sex marriage.

Gastañaga said the lawyers were intentionally not asked how they would vote on the amendment. That way, she said, their opinions would be seen as professional, not personal.

"If they all came out and took a position, no one would pay attention to them as lawyers because they would be consigned to the position of advocate," said Gastañaga. "The lawyers here wanted to assure that they would be taken seriously and not as advocates for one side or the other."

By Jeff E. Schapiro-RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
Sept. 8, 2006