State's Marriage Proposal Hits Home in Arlington

Eighteen states define marriage in their constitutions, many in amendments approved since 2003, when a Massachusetts court opened the door to same-sex marriages there, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Massachusetts is the only state that issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples, though Vermont and Connecticut recognize civil unions. Four states, the District and several dozen localities allow couples to formalize relationships through domestic-partnership registries.

Ebbin said gay men and women simply want to enjoy the same freedoms and "relatively boring things afforded their straight counterparts."

"These are not selfish special rights," he said.

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Spread before Fisette in his fourth-floor county office are piles of statistics, including the results of a survey conducted last year by a private research group on behalf of Equality Virginia. The survey found that a majority of Virginians said that while they would vote in favor of amending the state's constitution to define marriage, they agree that broad rights and protections should be extended to gay individuals and couples -- the same rights that are normally associated with marriage.

It is the word "marriage" that makes the issue so contentious, Fisette said.

A majority of those polled -- 59 percent -- agreed that gay Virginians should have the right to civil unions, according to the survey conducted among 800 registered voters in December.

Regardless of their individual positions, an overwhelming majority of the polled voters also said there are far more important issues for elected state officials to worry about.

"A lot of people, if they really understood what the amendment says, they would be upset that the legislature keeps wasting its time on personal issues and personal loving relationships," Fisette said. "It comes down to legislating morality and [to] the political agenda underlying all of this."

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The campaign against the amendment began Sunday inside the bright, airy Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington where the Rev. Richard Nugent distilled the proposed legislation down to this: "mean-spirited."

"It arises out of political expediency and it fuels unfounded fear and bigotry," he said in his sermon to the diverse congregation.