Are your private contracts the government's business?
I can't believe that Virginia wants to limit the rights of two parties to enter into contractual arrangements, but read this:
A civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage is prohibited. Any such civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement entered into by persons of the same sex in another state or jurisdiction shall be void in all respects in Virginia and any contractual rights created thereby shall be void and unenforceable. (Via Andrew Sullivan.)
Attorney General Jerry Kilgore - the frontrunner for the Republican Party gubernatorial nomination in 2005 - is solidly behind Marshall's bill.
No one seems to know precisely what the language means. I guess it depends on what the "privileges or obligations of marriage" are.
Would a will be invalidated if it grants property to a loved one? Hospital visitation?
What about a simple cohabitation agreement? You decide to share rent, house payments, utilities and you enter into an agreement. Illegal in Virginia? Could a landlord evict tenants he thinks are "living in sin" by availing himself of this law?
How about buying a car or a house? Could a tenancy in common ownership be invalidated?
I have previously warned -- repeatedly -- that the FMA intends by questionable stealth tactics to do the same things that the sponsors of this bill want to do openly. At least the Virginia legislature is being honest.
» Update: Virginia primitive, cont'd from Overlawyered
By margins of more than 2-1, signaling a likely override of any veto by Gov. Mark Warner, both houses of the Virginia legislature have passed HB 751, which would declare null and void all "partnership agreements" between persons of the... [Read More]
Tracked on April 23, 2004 9:59 AM
No, it's probably not that bad. I wish it WERE, because then it would hurt the majority and get repealed.
First off, the bill says "the privileges or obligations of marrriage," not "ANY OF the privileges" etc. Huge difference. Courts will probably try to construe this cautiously, and invalidate only those contracts that try to confer at least many of the rights associated with marriage. (I would like to see a challenge based on vagueness, because nobody knows just how many rights or which ones.)
As for the evil landlord, he can try to get it away with it, but a lot of straight tenants will yell to the VA housing commission, whatever they call it there, and get a temporary restraining order while they challenge his right to evict at an administrative hearing and/or in court. Of course, the poor and unpopular won't do that as much -- but that would be true if he just evicted them for no reason at all, too.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
Hey! They can't DO that!!!
The persons proposing this are nuts, very very nuts . . . you could wrap them in cellophane and serve them on any airline flight, no questions asked.
Make them go away!
sigh.