Rainbow bLAWg

Virginia State Sen. Adam Ebbin, an Alexandria Democrat whose district includes parts of Arlington and Fairfax counties, has filed a resolution to begin the long process of repealing Virginia’s gay marriage ban. Ebbin, who is gay, believes that the tide is turning in Virginia. He cites progression toward marriage equality on the federal level and recent polling that indicates a majority of Virginians now support the idea.

The measure must pass both chambers of the General Assembly in two different sessions — and the law requires an election to be held between those sessions. If it survives all that, then the question goes before voters in 2016, which happens to be the 10th anniversary of the Marshall-Newman Amendment.

At the same time, a couple from Norfolk have a hearing before U.S. Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen on January 30th. Tim Bostic, an English professor at Old Dominion University, and Tony London, a former Navy sailor and real estate agent, have been together for 24 years. In a law suit filed in July, the couple asserted that Virginia’s constitution and other Virginia laws that prohibit gay marriage are in violation of federal constitutional provisions on equal protection and due process, making gays and lesbians “second class citizens.”

The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) — one of the groups that pushed to overturn California’s gay marriage ban — is on the plaintiffs’ legal team. Ted Olson, the former solicitor general of the United States under President George W. Bush, is part of that team.

“We want our relationship to be recognized, just like everyone else’s,” says Bostic. “Further, it is important to us as Virginians to get married in a state we love.”

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There is hope that someday soon the state of Virginia will it’s grant LGBT residents the dignity of of having the right to marry the person they choose. Until then, LGBT couples living in Virginia (and most other states) remain without any legal protections whatsoever – unless they go to the effort and expense of getting specific legal documents, i.e., living will and medical power of attorney (to empower a partner to make medical decisions and have hospital visitation rights), last will and testaments and/or living trust (to leave property to a partner) and other supporting documents that empower a partner to make decisions about finances, burial and cremation and many other rights denied to same-sex partners who live in non-marriage equality states.

For the most part, couples who can afford these documents will get them. Many LGBT couples are struggling financially because of the economic downturn. For them, Rainbow Law’s state-specific will and trust packages provide an affordable alternative – and their free advance directives are available to any LGBT person who asks.

If you or anyone you know needs legal documents to empower and protect an LGBT relationship, you really ought to give Rainbow Law a try.

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Carrie Stone