Conservatives Confident About Virginia Marriage Amendment's Passage
by Jeff Johnson and Allie Martin
November 1, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Defense of marriage amendments are on the ballot in eight states next Tuesday, including the state of Virginia. Pro-family advocates there expect the marriage protection measure to pass, if only by a slim margin.
Victoria Cobb of Virginia4Marriage.org says current polling indicates only a two to six percent lead for the Virginia Defense of Marriage Amendment, which defines marriage as only a legal union between one man and one woman. However, the pro-family activist says voter turnout for similar amendments has typically been higher than indicated by polls in the final days before an election.
Cobb feels fairly confident about the prospects for the Virginia marriage amendment's passage on November 7. "We believe a majority of Virginians support traditional marriage," she says, "and it's simply a matter of mobilizing them and getting them to bring their friends and their neighbors and everyone they know to the polls."
In fact the Virginia4Marriage.org spokeswoman says turnout in support of the amendment may increase in response to the recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that the legislature in that state must legalize either same-sex "civil unions" or so-called "gay marriage." She believes Virginia voters feel the people and their elected representatives, rather than judges, should decide such important issues.
When Virginia voters look at the New Jersey Supreme Court's action, Cobb asserts, "they know that that is exactly what this marriage amendment is about, and it motivates them because they don't want that to happen here in Virginia." "Old Dominion State" citizens want to be able to set the policy statewide "that we will not recognize these type of marriages," she says.
New Jersey pro-family activist John Tomicki also believes the homosexual marriage decision by his state's high court may end up helping to mobilize values voters. He says the court's ruling that homosexual couples are entitled to the same legal rights and financial benefits as heterosexual couples is just another example of judicial activism concerning "an issue of not only biblical proportions, but also -- from a legal point of view -- solid constitutional law."
Tomicki, who heads the New Jersey Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage, notes that history, law, and sociology all support traditional marriage. "The definition of marriage is totally the prerogative of 'we, the people,'" he points out.
Certainly, "all legislation cannot always please all of the majority or all of the minority," the pro-family spokesman continues. "But if you look at it from a sociological sense," he contends, "thousands of years of history has said the basic building block of every culture, one of them, is marriage as only a union of one man and one woman."
Tomicki says the New Jersey Supreme Court overstepped its authority with last week's ruling on same-sex marriage. The court gave lawmakers 180 days to rewrite that state's marriage laws, but the Coalition president believes that ultimatum will galvanize Christians and other values voters into action in the interim.
Jeff Johnson and Allie Martin, regular contributors to AgapePress, are reporters for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
