6.9 Same-sex Marriage

• Library: The Virginia Lawyer: A Deskbook for Practitioners (Virginia CLE) (2022 Ed.)

6.9 SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Virginia since the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Bostic v. Schaefer in 2014. ³⁸⁵⁰ In Bostic, the court held that Virginia marriage statutes violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses

to the extent that they prevent same-sex couples from marrying and prohibit Virginia from recognizing same-sex couples' lawful out-of-state marriages. We therefore affirm the district court's grant of the Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and its decision to enjoin enforcement of the Virginia Marriage Laws. ³⁸⁵¹

Bostic was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which denied the petition for a writ of certiorari. ³⁸⁵²

One year after the Fourth Circuit's...