LGBT
Related: About this forumVirginia Delegate Bob Marshall Sponsors Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Conscience Clause Bill
Edited on Sunday to change "Gay Marriage" to "Same-Sex Marriage."
Hat tip, the Washington Blade: Va., Md. gearing up for new legislative session
January 7, 2015 | by Michael K. Lavers
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State Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William County) has introduced a bill that would allow government officials not to issue a marriage license or other official document based on their religious beliefs. The measure specifically cites same-sex marriage or homosexual behavior.
This piece of legislation is extremist, hateful and discriminatory, said James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia, a statewide LGBT advocacy group, on Tuesday in a statement. While we are all entitled to our own religious beliefs, we cannot use those beliefs to discriminate against others. Discrimination is wrong its that simple.
Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, also criticized Marshalls bill. This legislation is nothing more than a state-sanctioned license to discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Virginians, including married same-sex couples, simply because of who they are, said Gastañaga. ... The bill would do nothing more than reignite the commonwealths historical hostility toward LGBT Virginians.
Marshall did not respond to the Blades request for comment.
HB 1414 Government-issued licenses, etc.; obtaining or renewing, conscience clause.
Introduced by: Robert G. Marshall
SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:
Obtaining or renewing government-issued licenses, etc.; conscience clause. Provides that a person shall not be required to perform, assist, consent to, or participate in any action or refrain from performing, assisting, consenting to, or participating in any action as a condition of obtaining or renewing a government-issued license, registration, or certificate where such condition would violate the religious or moral convictions of such person with respect to same-sex marriage or homosexual behavior.
Full text, House Bill No. 1414
Patron-- Marshall, R.G.
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Referred to Committee on General Laws
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Whereas, the Preamble to the proposed amendments to the United States Constitution, which became the Bill of Rights, sent by Congress for consideration by the States, signed by Frederick Muhlenberg, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and John Adams, Vice-President and President of the Senate, and attested to by John Beckley, Clerk of the House of Representatives, and Samuel Otis, Secretary of the Senate, provides that "[t]he Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution"; and
{snip}
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. A person seeking to obtain or renew a license, registration, or certificate from the Commonwealth, its political subdivisions, or any agency, authority, board, department, or other entity thereof, shall not be required to perform, assist, consent to, or participate in any action or refrain from performing, assisting, consenting to, or participating in any action as a condition of obtaining or renewing the license, registration, or certificate where such condition would violate the religious or moral convictions of such person with respect to same-sex "marriage" or homosexual behavior.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)they want to deprive all LGBT people of basic rights and services.
Excuse my language, but fuck these people.
NCLefty
(3,678 posts)Thanks
JDDavis
(725 posts)Do not look like the people of 250+ years ago, when this stuff was so inconsequential
People did their thing then.......of course, being a drunk rapist was a man's right.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,621 posts)You don't have to be in a same-sex marriage to be on Bob Marshall's hit list. You just have to be gay.
A New Virginia Bill Would Let Schools, Hotels, Restaurants, and Hospitals Turn Gays Away
Expanding the LGBTQ Conversation Jan. 8 2015 12:19 PM
By Mark Joseph Stern
Nearly a year ago, Kansas legislators quietly attempted to legalize anti-gay segregation, abandoning the effort only after a national wave of outrage arose. Now a Republican delegate in Virginia is attempting to replicate Kansas effortwith a bill so extreme, so radically and viciously anti-gay, that it makes Kansas measure look moderate by comparison.
The Virginia bill, introduced by Del. Bob Marshall, is actually quite ingenious in its complete degradation of gay citizens. Like every religious liberty measure introduced over the past year, its true intent is to legalize discrimination against gay people. But whereas most of those bills attempted to allow discrimination in the realm of gay marriagepermitting, for instance, a florist to refuse to provide flowers for a gay couples weddingthe Virginia bill has no such limitation.
Instead, Marshalls measure would attach a conscience clause to any license, registration, or certificate obtained from the commonwealth, whether by a private business or a government agency. This clause would allow all workers to refuse to perform, assist, consent to, or participate in any action that would violate the religious or moral conviction of such person with respect to same-sex marriage or homosexual behavior. (Emphasis minethough the scare quotes around marriage are in the bill.) In other words, workers in the state of Virginia need only declare that interacting with people who partake in homosexual behavior violates their moral convictionand they will be free to turn them away.
Because the bill applies to both private and public enterprises, and because these enterprises almost always need some kind of license, registration, or certificate from the government, its reach is essentially endless. University professors could refuse to teach gay students; doctors in state-run hospitals could refuse to treat gay patients. Hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, and bars could simply put up a sign reading No gays allowed. Police officers and ambulance drivers could refuse to aid not just gay couples, but also gay individuals. County clerks and DMVs could turn away gays at the door. Public school teachers could kick out gay students. Daycares could refuse to look after the children of gay couples.
Amimnoch
(4,558 posts)What we need for the players in this little skit:
Media,
a Gay owned and operated business,
a straight couple, who at heart are our supporters.
Scenario:
Straight couple goes to and tries to buy/book something with the owner.
Owner refuses service/product to straight couple, strictly because he doesn't support straight marriages.
Straight couple sues.
Media reports it.
Religious right goes nuts, and supports straight couple lawsuit.
Our side just needs to hold back and allow the process to go through.
Viola - case history is made, and by defacto if a straight couple can not be discriminated against due to "conscience" then no gay couple can be discriminated against in like manner, as precedence will have been set.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,621 posts)Hat tip, Fairfax Underground, for inspiring me to look up quoted material and find the source.
Anti-Gay Discrimination Bill Introduced in Virginia
"Conscience clause" bill would allow businesses to discriminate against LGBT people under guise of religion
By John Riley on January 6, 2015
@JohnAndresRiley
A Virginia lawmaker has introduced a so-called conscience clause bill that would allow private businesses to discriminate against LGBT people and couples without fear of reprisal, setting up a fight for the coming years General Assembly session that could also serve as a campaign issue in next Novembers legislative elections.
Del. Bob Marshall (R-Manassas Park, Prince William Co.) introduced HB1414, which says that any person seeking to obtain or renew a license from the commonwealth, its political subdivisions, or any agency, board or department shall not be required to perform, assist, consent to, or participate in any action or refrain from performing, assisting, consenting to or participating in any action as a condition of obtaining or renewing the license, registration or certificate where such condition would violate the religious or moral convictions of such person with respect to same sex marriage or homosexual behavior. Notably, by including both marriage and behavior in his bill, Marshall ensures that business owners would be able to discriminate against both legally married Virginians in same-sex unions and unmarried people who are perceived to be LGBT.
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Marshalls bill is slated to be heard by the House General Laws Committee, which is controlled by Republicans, 15-7, and chaired by Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, Warren counties), a fierce opponent of LGBT rights. However, five Northern Virginia Republicans could prove essential to whether the bill passes, as the measure needs 12 votes to pass out of committee and to the floor for a vote by the full House, and two other Republicans from downstate have previously been supportive of LGBT rights, leaving the five Northern Virginia Republicans as potential swing votes, particularly if leaned upon by their generally pro-LGBT constituents. Those Republicans are: Jim LeMunyon (R-Fairfax, Loudoun counties), Tag Greason (R-Loudoun Co.), Dave Albo (R-Fairfax Co.) David Ramadan (R-Loudoun, Prince William counties), and Rich Anderson (R-Prince William Co.).