Representatives discuss marriage, election
Tally Moses
Issue date: 10/11/04 Section: News
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Jeremy Kidd, president of Queer Action, said a representative from the organization called and said they were no longer available.
Josh Israel, president of the Virginia Partisans said, "I was disappointed that the Republicans were absent when it came to speaking about issues of equality in Virginia."
Israel and Richard Campagna, Vice Presidential candidate for the Libertarian party, participated in the discussion.
With 29 people in attendance, the first part of the discussion was a structured question and answer session. The questions were posed by Kidd to Israel and Campagna. The second part allowed audience members to pose questions to both men.
Both men began by giving the history of each of their organizations. Israel described the Virginia Partisans, which is the equivalent of the national Stonewall Democrats, as a group that started in someone's living room in Northern Virginia during the early 1990's and founded by Adam Ebbin.
Campagna compared the Libertarian party to the Virginia Partisans by saying that it began in much the same way, small and in the founder, David Nolan's, living room in Colorado during the early 1970's. It has now grown to be national and the party is on the presidential ballot in 48 states.
Campagna considers the party to be "the party of equality" who trusts individuals to make decisions about their own lives.
The focus of the discussion shifted several times to the current presidential race. The Virginia Partisans are endorsing Sen. John Kerry and the Libertarians are endorsing their candidate, Michael Badnarik.
Israel said that even though so many people think that the President Bush will win in Virginia, Kerry is trailing in the polls by only between 2 to 5 percent. He said that he thinks Kerry has a chance.
Another issue facing the GLBT community is that of HB 751, the Marriage Affirmation Amendment that became effective July 1 in Virginia. This law states that "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."
The Virginia Partisans oppose this law and believe that it is a clear violation of both the state and national constitutions. They want Virginia to recognize civil unions of people of the same sex.
In reaction to this law, Campagna said that the United States is in the midst of what he calls a constitutional crisis. "The current model of American life is upside down," he explained.
He said that the Constitution of the United States of America was set up to be clear and it has become unclear. Constitutional interpretation does not have to be perfect. "There is a common sense analysis of what the founding fathers meant," he said.
The Libertarian stance on civil unions is that the government should not be able to regulate them. Campagna said it is an absurd system that has states giving away licenses for relationships. Relationships should be a private matter between the individuals and their religious affiliations.
The reaction after the discussion was positive, but audience members thought the presence of the Log Cabin Republicans would have added to the discussion.
"I think it was good to provide a forum to hear these issues and to hear the two different Democrat and Libertarian positions and it would have been interesting if the Log Cabin Republicans had been here to offer theirs," said Laura Haase, junior at Virginia Commonwealth University. Haase is a member of Queer Action who is registered as a Democrat but is now planning to change to Libertarian.
"I thought most of the issues that I wanted to hear about were definitely covered. I was a little bit disappointed that the Republican contingent - the Log Cabin Republicans - were unable to make it. I was really looking forward to hearing their take on the issues of the day," said Justin Johns, treasurer for Queer Action. Johns said that he learned a lot from the Libertarians and thought some of their ideas were interesting. He has not had much interaction with them previously.
"I thought it was a good dialogue, really educational for everyone involved. I got to find out about two really good parties and how they feel about GLBT issues and specific legislation. I thought it was really informative for everyone," Kidd said.
Both organizations agreed that it is important for everyone to vote in an informed way.
