11-03-06, 11:47 am

With the recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision to mandate equal rights to gay couples, same-sex marriage is once again taking the spotlight in an election year where voters in eight states will vote on constitutional amendments to ban it.

Passage of the amendments is almost guaranteed in three of the eight states where they are being considered. The other five face serious opposition.

This is in stark contrast to 2004, when 13 states passed such ballot initiatives by large majorities.

The drive for a same-sex marriage ban is expected to fail in Virginia. 'It's a statistical dead heat,' said Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, campaign director of Commonwealth Coalition. 'Heading into the final three weeks, we're very optimistic that Virginia's ban won't pass.'

The Commonwealth Coalition is campaigning against Virginia's same-sex marriage ban with a barrage of TV and radio advertisements, direct mail, and grassroots campaigning. The Commonwealth Coalition is made up of125 prominent businesses, local councils, churches and synagogues.

The Commonwealth Coalition's campaign is focused on showing that the constitutional amendment itself is flawed because of its overly broad language.

The amendment reads: 'This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage.'

Observers say that the use of broad phrases like 'unmarried individuals,' could actually limit the rights of unmarried heterosexual couples, as well as homosexual couples alike.

According to Gov. Tim Kaine, D. Va., an opponent of same-sex marriage, the amendment's broad language could take away an unmarried couples right to everything from child custody to wills to even protections against domestic violence.

Gov. Kaine's concerns were echoed in a statement on the legal ramifications of the amendment by the Virginia Legal Review Committee, which was signed by 200 prominent Virginia lawyers and former Republican Governor Linwood Holton.

By not providing legal recognition of unmarried heterosexual couples, members of Northern Virginia's business community expressed serious doubts about their ability to attract qualified future employees. Many businesses provide unmarried domestic partner benefits as a recruiting tool for unmarried heterosexuals and homosexuals.

'Our history in Virginia has been about opening doors, not slamming doors shut. If this amendment passes, Virginia will be a place where doors are slammed shut. That's not good for business and that's not good for anybody else either,' said J. Douglas Koelemay, managing director of Qorvis Communications.

From Leadership Conference on Civil Rights