Ban's Foes To Run Ad Across Va.

An organization that opposes a ballot measure that would constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in Virginia is buying a TV commercial to run statewide, marking an intensifying effort to defeat the amendment.

The 30-second ad, which will begin appearing throughout the state today on CNN, shows an image of Virginia's 230-year-old Bill of Rights slowly being engulfed in flames. A narrator warns gravely that the amendment would "destroy" the spirit of the state's Bill of Rights, which served as the model for the U.S. Bill of Rights. A second ad will appear next week, officials said.

Sponsored by the Commonwealth Coalition, a group organized to defeat the amendment, the ad goes on to frame the organization's central argument against the amendment: Because of the wording, the measure will erode the rights of all unwed couples, including heterosexuals.

"Read all of Ballot Question One closely," the male narrator says. "Every unmarried couple could lose their rights. Like guardianship rights. And inheritance rights. . . . It goes way too far."

Proponents disagree, saying the ballot measure would ban only same-sex marriage and civil unions in Virginia. They have pointed out that there have not been cases of unwed couples losing such rights in any state that has passed similarly worded measures.

"We would have hoped that their TV ads would have answered the real question Virginians are being asked -- how should marriage be defined," said Victoria Cobb, executive director of the Family Foundation, a group that has helped organize support for the measure. "This is just another misleading campaign ad, and I don't believe Virginians will fall for it."

The ad's release three weeks before Election Day, Nov. 7, illustrates an expected scramble by both campaigns to sway voters on the issue. Cobb said the Family Foundation plans to run statewide radio commercials beginning two weeks before Election Day.

Dyana Mason, field director for the Commonwealth Coalition, said that it was unclear how long the opposition ad, which will cost the group $10,000 a day to broadcast, would air.