Not for lovers: banning same-sex contracts.

• Author: Sanchez, Julian
• Position: Citings - Virginia's Affirmation of Marriage Act - Brief Article

As GAY COUPLES in Massachusetts celebrate their newfound right to marry, Virginia couples find themselves stripped even of the right to create marriage-like private contracts. The state's Affirmation of Marriage Act, which takes effect in July, not only forbids the state from recognizing same-sex marriages or civil unions performed elsewhere but voids any private "partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage."

Constitutional scholars have said the law appears to violate the 14th Amendments Equal Protection Clause, as well as the clause of Article I, Section 10 that prohibits states from passing laws "impairing the obligation of contracts." Gay rights groups, such as Equality Virginia, have suggested that the law could complicate property bequests and interfere with the ability of gay Virginians to...