In a speech given before students and members of the University community yesterday evening, History Prof. and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond urged members of the community to vote "no" on the Marshall-Newman marriage amendment appearing on Virginia's ballot next week.
"I'd always thought Virginia was for lovers, not against them," Bond said. "We believe it is always wrong to use a constitution to single out one group for discrimination."
Bond delivered the keynote speech for "Virginia is for Lovers?", the first event to be cosponsored by the Office of African-American Affairs and the LGBT Resource Center of the Office of Student Life.
"I thought it was fantastic," said Joy Pugh, coordinator of the LGBT Resource Center. "For the first event between the two groups, you can't have a better speaker than Julian Bond."
The event also featured a performance by singer/songwriter Greg Greenway and remarks by Maurice Apprey, interim dean of the Office of African-American Affairs, Dean of Students Penny Rue and student leaders Tamara Dottin, president of the Black Student Alliance, and Blake Wilding, president of the Queer Student Union.
"We all, at some point or another, feel isolated," Wilding said, noting the need for collaboration between minority groups. "And this is why coalition-building as in this event is so important."
Bond took the opportunity to draw a connection between the gay rights movement and the civil rights movement.
"Marriage is a civil right," he said. "If you don't want gay people to marry in your church, good for you. But you can't say they can't marry in your city."
The amendment, if passed, would add lines to Virginia's Bill of Rights defining marriage as between a man and a woman and would prohibit the state from recognizing any equivalent partnerships such as civil unions.
College Republicans President Amber VerValin said that the student group chose not to take a formal stance on the amendment, rather focusing on endorsing specific candidates in the upcoming elections. She noted, however, that it is a key issue in a heavily contested election.
"I think it's very important to Virginians and that this is such a part of our values, that if we have to put this into the constitution it's what we have to do," she said.
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