Chanting "What do we want? Equality. When do we want it? Now," University employees, students and local politicians rallied Friday afternoon on the lawn of Brooks Hall to encourage the University to provide domestic partner benefits for its staff and faculty members.
Lasting roughly one hour and 15 minutes, the rally, dubbed "Rally for Equality," included two prolonged periods when demonstrators chanted outside the Rotunda, the site of the University's Board of Visitors meeting Friday.
Protestors criticized the Board and the University for failing to stand up for the rights of its homosexual employees.
The Board "claims to fear the vindictiveness of its conservative alumni and conservative benefactors in Richmond," Queer Student Union Co-President Luke Ward said. "It's time for the University to get a backbone."
University President John T. Casteen, III has repeatedly stated that the Board lacks the legal authority to grant the benefits.
The Virginia General Assembly bore the brunt of protestors' anger with speakers repeatedly comparing the Assembly's current refusal to grant domestic partner benefits with refusals during the 1960s to permit interracial marriage.
Ward suggested that Virginia is attempting to legislate the "University back into the stone age."
Kathy Gerber, an honorably discharged Marine Corps member and University employee, said it is easier to go through marine boot camp than to be openly homosexual in Virginia.
Speaking shortly thereafter, Catherine Gillespie, a University Career Services employee, said the state's traditional intolerance towards homosexuals may force her and her partner to leave a home they love.
"When we talk about having a child, we talk about leaving [Charlottesville] because Virginia is such a hostile place to be," Gillespie said.
The City of Charlottesville does not offer domestic partner benefits but is searching for a way to provide them under state law, Vice Mayor Meredith Richards said at the rally.
"The city needs to set the pace," Richards said. "We did it with the living wage."
Richards explained that the City of Arlington provided domestic partner benefits for almost two years before the state Supreme Court struck them down.
One employee said even a decision by the University to change its policy, with the intention of fully funding domestic partner benefits when resources become available would be a positive step.
"Benefits are not the only issue, but changing policy," said Edward Strickler, a member of U.Va. Pride, a faculty and staff organization dedicated to protecting the rights of homosexual employees. "Unjust rules and unjust policy feed into unjust deeds. Benefits imply money. You change a policy, it doesn't require any money."
City Councilor Blake Caravati admitted that changing attitudes in Virginia will not be easy, given the state's reputation as a conservative stronghold.
"How many Virginians does it take to change a light bulb?" Caravati asked the audience. "It takes one to change a light bulb and five to talk about how great the old one was."
As a capstone to the event, State Delegate Mitch Van Yahres, D-Charlottesville, expressed solidarity with those rallying.
"I'm on your side," Van Yahres said. "That's what it boils down to."
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