Beginning at 1:00 pm October 6, 2014, same-sex couples are legal to get a marriage license in Virginia. The marriage application form has changed to spouse and spouse. It was a history day for Virginia, and the decision changed hundreds and thousands same-sex couples and their families. Many couples had been waiting to get their license for many years. Two gay men, Tim Bostic and Tony London, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage on July 18, 2013. They are living in Norfolk and married as soon as the same-sex marriage are legal. The Supreme Court refused to rule on this case saying that there would be no national enforcement on the issue.
There is a huge argument between same-sex marriage in the past few years. For me, I don’t know really care if people are heterosexual or homosexual, but I think that marriage does not have to be religious; so does the government. That’s why we had the separate the church and state. The Supreme Court has let the states decide whether to allow or deny the same sex marriage. Our state, Virginia, passed the law by the authority of majority people’s vote. Marriage is between a man and a woman naturally or traditionally, but for the equality of life I think that people have the liberty to marry whoever they want. In addition, it is wonderful that most of us have loyalty to our religion, but we can not force others to believe what we had believing. To push your beliefs onto others if it would deny them equal treatment or harm them in any way is unconstitutional. It is definitely okay to be proud of our religion, but what we believe should never directly interfere with the rights of other people and we should not define how anyone else should act unless that action is harmful. We should respect each other.
juknowit • Oct 20, 2014 at 2:43 pm
I am excited that my friends and family can get married if they would like to. We should all be equal in every way possible, now that there is marriage equality in Virginia, hopefully this will influence other states. Not everyone agrees with gay marriage, why do you even care? Not everyone’s views are the same, so we cannot force people to accommodate our individual beliefs. Of course some states are going to remain hostile towards the topic,but eventually every state will allow marriage equality.
wanakita • Oct 20, 2014 at 2:20 pm
Virginia had the most difficuties to accept gay marriage. Base in my religion marriage should be between man and woman, but we are no body to judge other peoples belieft and rights. I am happy to hear about virginia accepting gay marriage and make it legally a law.
SavySo_Vicious • Oct 20, 2014 at 2:19 pm
i was estatic reading this article. Virginia was the 24th state to legalize gay marriage. That shows growth and America becoming more open minded to the equality of people. We are almost half way through america being 100% on board with gay marriage. The author is completely right, if you are opposed to gay marriage it is your right to believe what you want but who someone else’s love does not harm anyone and should not matter to you. Marriage is about who you love not what is “right” in societies eyes. Good job virginia in being the 24th state to opening oppurtunities for the LGBT community. <3
zoneout96 • Oct 20, 2014 at 8:54 am
To me not everyone goes by “TRADITION”. Many people just experience things or love things or a certain person enough to look over any resistance. I feel as if allowing people of the same sex to marry is a wonderful thing. People get tired of fighting for their happiness so words probably cannot explain how people that wanted same sex marriage for all this time feel.