Pro-Family Activist Castigates Virginia Governor For Cowardly Civil Union Strategy

by Rusty Pugh
May 5, 2004

(AgapePress) - A Virginia pro-family advocate says Governor Mark Warner tried to kill legislation banning all forms of same-sex unions, but he says Warner did not have the courage to openly oppose the measure.

Victoria Cobb of the Family Foundation of Virginia says the state's ban on same-sex civil unions put Warner in a political quandary. She believes the governor did not want to appear to oppose the ban, but he did not want to go against homosexual activists either.

Cobb contends that the governor, not having the political courage to simply veto the bill and knowing that the majority of Virginians supported it, realized that he "had to be a lot more sophisticated in his approach on this."

Instead, she says Warner tried "to essentially gut the legislation through an amendment" and cited the typical concerns about its "constitutionality. But despite Warner's political maneuvering, a supermajority of Virginia's lawmakers passed the bill.

"Fortunately, our legislature stood strong and said, 'It doesn't matter what you call this; you are trying to give rights away that are specifically created and designed by government to be a privilege for marriage between one man and one woman,'" Cobb says.

The Family Foundation of Virginia spokeswoman applauds state lawmakers who stood up for the traditional definition of marriage. As for Warner, she says, when push came to shove, the governor revealed his true liberal nature.