Local Charlottesville officials spoke out against Richmond legislation at Monday night's City Council meeting. Council members voted four-to-one to pass a resolution urging the repeal of Virginia's House Bill 751, an amendment to the 1997 Affirmation of Marriage Act.
The Virginia law, which took effect across the Commonwealth July 1, prohibits "partnership contract(s) or other arrangement(s) between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage."
The law has raised concern and controversy across Virginia and locally here in Charlottesville.
"A significant portion of the citizens of Charlottesville are affected by the Affirmation of Marriage Act," said Council Member Blake Caravati, who initiated Council's resolution at the meeting. "Many of those people have approached me."
Caravati has opposed the legislation since last year when he began lobbying the House of Delegates in Richmond.
The resolution Caravati proposed to Council calls on the General Assembly to repeal House Bill 751, noting that the law "takes Virginia out of the mainstream of the laws of the other 49 states of the Union."
The resolution recognizes other potential detrimental effects of the law, including loss of tourism and business to the Commonwealth, the cost of legislation and the limitations it places on the rights of same-sex couples.
"My movement was not based on religious or moral values," Caravati said. "It was only based on civil rights."
Many worry that the law's vague guidelines leave room for implicit effects. The resolution also notes the threat the law presents to partners' power of attorney, custody rights and medical directives.
"In voting against House Bill 751 and in favor of the resolution, I feel like I am standing up for fairness," Council Member Kendra Hamilton said.
Council Member Rob Schilling voted against the resolution, urging Charlottesville residents concerned about the law's effect to contact their state and federal representatives directly.
Schilling said he is concerned Council "overestimates its own importance" in evaluating laws of the Commonwealth.
A host of Charlottesville residents attended the Council meeting and voiced a range of opinions.
"This is a vicious piece of legislation that has harmed a lot of people already," said Claire Kaplan, Charlottesville resident and the University's sexual assault education coordinator, at the meeting.
The law has had a negative effect on the University's recruitment efforts, Kaplan told Council. Potential faculty members have eliminated the University from their consideration because of the Virginia legislation, she said.
Others suggested that the assertions made by Council's resolution about the negative effects of the bill are assumptions.
"The resolution was simply in bad form," said Harold L. Bare Sr., pastor at Charlottesville's Covenant Church. "If it is going to be a resolution of opinion, it should indicate opinion."Many of the resolution's points lacked supporting research and was rather based on assumptive statements, Bare said.
Bare offered Council $1,000 to survey Charlottesville residents on their opinions concerning the legislation, noting that research suggests that most Americans support traditional forms of marriage.
Council will now move forward with the goals of the resolution by meeting with local legislators to encourage them to propose a bill that would repeal HB 751, Caravati said.
However, there is some skepticism as to the ability of the resolution to have an effect in Richmond.
"In a technical sense, what [Council] did [Monday] night is not a point of law, it is only a resolution," Bare said. "It doesn't change the law."
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