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 Group Behind Virginia Anti-Gay Amendment Now
Targets Divorcing Straight Couples
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 5, 2007 - 3:00 pm ET
(Richmond, Virginia) The organization that
mounted the successful bid to amend Virginia's constitution to block same-sex
marriage, civil unions and domestic partner benefits says it will now
concentrate on making it more difficult for straight couples to break up.
Voters approved the gay marriage ban in
November. Now the Family
Foundation of Virginia has begun a drive to end no-fault divorce in the state.
No-fault allows either partner in a marriage to
get a divorce without specific grounds. That person can then apply for
full custody rights over the couple's children. It currently is available in
most states.
The Family Foundation says it makes divorce too
easy to get and disadvantages children. It is supporting a proposed bill that
would require specific grounds - such adultery - for couples with minor
children.
"Right now, one spouse can unilaterally end
[a marriage], and not
only is their spouse unable to stop the divorce, their abandonment does not
preclude them from having custody of their child," Victoria Cobb,
president of the Family Foundation told a news conference this week.
She said that statistics have shown children
suffer more from messy divorces than they do from unhappy parents.
So far the Foundation's bill does not have a
sponsor in the General Assembly, although the Assembly will consider a motion to
examine no-fault divorce.
When the organization was pushing to amend the
constitution to ban gay marriage LGBT advocates said the group should be
spending its time addressing the state's high divorce rate.
Cobb referenced that argument at her news
conference.
"While they used this argument to divert
attention from the matter at hand, we couldn't agree more with their
point," Cobb told reporters.
In 2004, the most recent year the Virginia
Department of Health has full statistics on marriages and divorces in the state,
there were 57,510 marriage licenses issued and 29,411 divorces.
©365Gay.com 2007
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