Virginia
Va. Senate committee delays consideration of resolution to repeal marriage amendment
Democrats regained control of General Assembly last November
A Virginia Senate committee on Tuesday delayed consideration of a resolution that seeks to repeal a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
The Associated Press reported the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted not to consider state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria)’s Senate Joint Resolution 11 during this year’s legislative session. Lawmakers also opted to postpone consideration of proposed constitutional amendments that would expand access to abortion and reform the system that allows felons who have completed their sentences to have their civil rights restored.
Democrats currently hold a 21-19 majority in the state Senate. They regained control of the Virginia House of Delegates last November.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin will remain in office until his term ends in 2025.
Voters in 2006 approved an amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014.
The General Assembly in 2021 approved a resolution that seeks to repeal the amendment. It must pass in two successive legislatures before it can go to the ballot.
The state Senate last year approved Ebbin’s resolution that sought to repeal the marriage amendment. Senators in 2023 also passed the gay Alexandria Democrat’s marriage equality affirmation bill.
A House of Delegates subcommittee last year tabled the resolution. State delegates also did not consider the marriage equality affirmation bill before the 2023 legislative session ended.
State Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) has introduced a separate resolution in the House Delegates that seek to repeal the marriage amendment. Ebbin and state Del. Rozia Henson (D-Prince William County) have also sponsored bills that would reaffirm marriage equality in Virginia.
The AP reported the Senate Privileges and Elections Committees on Tuesday also rejected Republican-sponsored bills that critics say would have restricted voting in Virginia.
Democrats on Tuesday increased their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates.
The Associated Press notes the party now has 61 seats in the chamber. Democrats before Election Day had a 51-48 majority in the House.
All six openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual candidates — state Dels. Rozia Henson (D-Prince William County), Laura Jane Cohen (D-Fairfax County), Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg), Marcia Price (D-Newport News), Adele McClure (D-Arlington County), and Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) — won re-election.
Lindsey Dougherty, a bisexual Democrat, defeated state Del. Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield County) in House District 75 that includes portions of Chesterfield and Prince George Counties. (Attorney General-elect Jay Jones in 2022 texted Coyner about a scenario in which he shot former House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican.)
Other notable election results include Democrat John McAuliff defeating state Del. Geary Higgins (R-Loudoun County) in House District 30. Former state Del. Elizabeth Guzmán beat state Del. Ian Lovejoy (R-Prince William County) in House District 22.
Democrats increased their majority in the House on the same night they won all three statewide offices: governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.
Narissa Rahaman is the executive director of Equality Virginia Advocates, the advocacy branch of Equality Virginia, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, last week noted the election results will determine the future of LGBTQ rights, reproductive freedom, and voting rights in the state.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
The General Assembly earlier this year approved a resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment that defines marriage in the state constitution as between a man and a woman. The resolution must pass in two successive legislatures before it can go to the ballot.
Shreya Jyotishi contributed to this article.
Virginia
Gay Republican loses race for Virginia lieutenant governor
John Reid became first out nominee for statewide office in Va.
John Reid, a gay conservative former radio talk show host in Richmond for many years, lost his race as the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia on Tuesday, falling short of becoming the state’s first openly gay person to win a statewide office.
According to the Virginia Board of Elections, with votes counted in 129 of the state’s 133 localities, Democrat Ghazala F. Hashmi, a member of the Virginia State Senate, captured 55.45 percent of the vote, with 1,822,889 votes compared to Reid, who received 44.30 percent with 1,456,335 votes.
The election board results at 11:30 p.m. on election night also showed there were 8,391 write-in votes cast in the lieutenant governor’s race at 0.26 percent.
While Reid fell short of becoming Virginia’s first out LGBTQ statewide office holder, Hashmi broke another barrier by becoming both the state and the nation’s first Muslim woman elected to a statewide office.
The Progressive Voters Guide has reported that Hashmi supports LGBTQ rights as part of a broader progressive agenda that includes public education, reproductive rights, and environmental justice.
Gay longtime Virginia State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) endorsed Hashmi’s candidacy and told the Washington Blade he recently took her on a campaign tour of the Del Ray section of Alexandria.
In an interview with the Blade in April, Reid responded to a question of what message he had for LGBTQ voters in Virginia.
“Well, the thing I would say to gay voters who are looking and examining the candidates, is that I was out of the closet as a gay Republican publicly in very difficult rooms where people weren’t accepting of gay men – long before Donald Trump said I don’t care about this stuff,” he said.
“So even though I’m a Republican I know some people in the LGBT community are reflexively hostile to Republicans,” he told the Blade, “I took that step in public, and I think I helped change a lot of minds within the Republican Party and within central Virginia, which continues to be pretty conservative place, by being true to who I am.”
Former state Del. Jay Jones on Tuesday defeated incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares in the state’s attorney general race.
Miyares, a Republican who was a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, has been attorney general since 2022. Miyares lost to his Democratic challenger by a 46.8-52.8 percent margin.
Miyares in a 2023 letter to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said school districts must adhere to the state’s new guidelines for transgender and nonbinary students that activists say could potentially out them. Miyares also joined other state attorneys general who challenged the Biden-Harris administration’s Title IX rules that specifically protected LGBTQ students from discrimination based on their gender identity and sexual orientation.
Youngkin and Miyares earlier this year launched an investigation into how Loudoun County Public Schools has handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The election took place weeks after screenshots of Jones texting a colleague about a scenario in which he shot former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican.
Shreya Jyotishi contributed to this article.
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