Religious rights activists are disappointed after Governor Glenn Youngkin signed a bill protecting same-sex marriage before the 2024 legislative session ended.
Governor Youngkin said he agreed to sign a bill guaranteeing an affirmative right to same-sex and interracial marriage in the Commonwealth after pointing to specific religious protections in the law.
“Religious organizations and members of the clergy acting in their religious capacity now have the authority to decline to officiate marriage ceremonies that violate their conscience,” Youngkin said in a written statement released shortly after signing the law Friday night.
But in a voice memo sent to Radio IQ Tuesday, Victoria Cobb with the conservative religious group the Family Foundation of Virginia said she was disappointed by Youngkin’s signature on the bill which she said was designed to quote “divide Virginians.”
“Any bill that pretends gender is separate from biology paves the way to erasing girls from sports or worse,” Cobb said.
But Delegate Rozia Henson, who is openly gay and one day hopes to be married, was grateful for Youngkin’s sign off, even if he tried to say the law does more to protect religious freedoms than the rights of same-sex couples.
“People in certain organizations hijack certain talking points to solidify their bigotry, but that’s not what’s happening here," Henson said. "This is strictly dealing with two consenting adults, of age, trying to get married.”
And Narissa S. Rahaman, executive director of the LGBTQ-rights group Equality Virginia, was also hesitant to give Youngkin too much credit for the bill signing. She called it a "positive step forward," but also noted his administration has targeted transgender kids via public school policies and removed resources for vulnerable youth from the state websites.
"HB 174 is a good bill, but by signing it, Youngkin hasn’t reversed the harm he caused during the first half of his term," Rahaman warned.
Henson also said the bill only works as long as the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t overturn its own precedent protecting same-sex marriage.
Virginia’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage would kick back in if they did. The process to remove that language is a goal of Democrats during the next two legislative sessions.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
