It has been frustrating not being to access a copy of the federal lawsuit filed last week in the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia via the Court's pacer system which has a time lag between when suits are filed and when they become accessible. I am sure the complaint follows the road map laid out in Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in United States v. Windsor which condemned DOMA for having a deliberate plan to discriminate against gay couples and having been motivated by animus. In its main page editorial today, the Virginia Pilot wishes the two plaintiffs, Tony London and Tim Bostic (pictured above), good luck and success in the litigation. Here is the editorial:
Best wishes, Tony London and Timothy Bostic, on your upcoming fight for nuptials in Virginia. Hopefully, congratulations will soon follow for your win, and your marriage.
On Thursday, London and Bostic became the first couple in Virginia to file a federal lawsuit challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The lawsuit follows U.S. Supreme Court decisions that struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional and let stand a lower court ruling that a ban on gay marriage in California was unconstitutional.
London and Bostic could travel to one of the 13 states that permit same-sex couples to marry. But they have lived together in Norfolk since 1991. As their lawyer told Pilot reporter Scott Daugherty, "They are Virginians and they want to be married in Virginia."
Times and temperaments have changed radically since Virginia enacted its constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2006. A poll from Quinnipiac University released the same day that London and Bostic filed their lawsuit showed that more Virginians now support same-sex marriage than don't.
Virginia should not seek to prolong a ban that discriminates against its citizens. It should support couples who want to make loving commitments to each other. Good luck and good wishes, gentlemen, now and on your wedding day.
Needless to say, some Christofascists - and no doubt self-loathing closet cases like Ken Cuccinelli - are having conniptions, but the world is changing and their brand of hatred is losing acceptance, albeit not as rapidly as I would like. It is also an ironic coincidence that the Pilot ran its editorial the morning after Ken Cuccinelli reaffirmed his anti-gay bigotry.
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