Marriage Equality Passes House Judiciary

The House of Delegates Judiciary Committee just voted 12-10 to give marriage equality a favorable report. This vote occurred after several failed attempts to amend the bill. Chairman Vallario joined Carter, Waldstreicher, Lee, Dumais, Arora, Conaway, Valderrama, Simmons, Mitchell, and Anderson in voting aye.

Del. Hough attempted to amend the bill to name it the "same-sex marriage" bill. This failed by a vote of 11-10. Another amendment to strike the word "protection" from the title of the act--currently called the "Civil Marriage Protection Act"--also failed.

The third proposed amendment tried to strike the word "two" from the phrase "two individuals otherwise prohibited from marrying" as part of the effort to promote the ridiculous notion that this bill would lead to polygamy. This amendment died on a 13-8 vote with Dels. Alston and Valentino-Smith joining the other pro-marriage delegates.

Del. Parrott submitted an amendment to remove the prohibitions on incest (e.g. grandmothers marrying grandsons) from the bill. This amendment was ultimately withdrawn.

Del. Alston submitted a civil unions amendment that appears to have failed on a 10-10 vote. Del. Carter passed on the amendment and did not vote, as was also true of the committee chair. Del. Dwyer announced his intention to do the same but I am uncertain if he actually did so. The delegates voting against the amendment included Clippinger, Waldstreicher, Lee, Dumais, Arora, Conaway, Valderrama, Simmons, Mitchell, and Anderson.