Attorney General Mark Herring commemorated one year of marriage equality in Virginia on the day the Commonwealth began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and started recognizing legally performed out-of-state marriages between same-sex partners. In just one year, the Commonwealth has issued 2,670 marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and issued 70 birth certificates to same sex couples.
“That day was certainly groundbreaking, but the historic nature could not compare to the faces of people who could finally marry the one they loved, the mothers and fathers who would finally be named on their baby’s birth certificate, and the fact that love and our Constitution prevailed. That day, the constitutional right of Virginians to marry whomever they love was secured and loving couples and families across the Commonwealth were able to unite under the law for the very first time. It affirmed that Virginia is open and welcoming to all and that discrimination would not be tolerated, and no longer sanctioned by the Commonwealth. Those are true Virginia values,” said Herring.
“This historic progress would have been impossible without the courage of thousands of LGBT Virginians who demanded the equal treatment that our Constitution guarantees each of us. We take this day to celebrate the 2,670 couples who have been lovingly married in the past year, but it also serves as a reminder that the work is not yet done. All Virginians deserve to be treated with respect, dignity, and equality, and we will continue to fight against discrimination in the workplace, housing, and wherever we find it.”
“When Virginians gained the freedom to marry on October 6, 2014, we led the nation in the march toward marriage equality. As a result of that momentous day, thousands of couples have married and thousands of families have celebrated the joy that marriage brings,” said Carol Schall, plaintiff in Virginia’s marriage equality case. “On October 6, 2014 we won the simple and profound right to call each other family, to call the loves of our life ‘husband’ or ‘wife’ and to hear our children legally call us ‘mom’ or ‘dad.’ Same gender families across Virginia now enjoy the legal ties that only marriage can bring.”
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