Some players in Virginia politics say putting a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on the state’s November ballot is more about boosting support for Republican Sen. George Allen than protecting marriage.
Allen supports the state constitutional amendment and voted in favor of a similar federal amendment. That measure, also supported by Republican Sen. John Warner, failed in the U.S. Senate earlier this month.
Putting the ban on the state ballot will bring out pro-amendment voters who might not otherwise show up, said political expert Larry Sabato. Those supporters are more likely to also vote for Allen.
A similar move in 2000 — when a constitutional amendment concerning hunting and fishing was put on the ballot — helped Allen get elected, said Sabato, who follows state politics as the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
“The hunting and fishing amendment, that brought out a heavy rural vote. That is where Allen cleaned up. It worked once. They figure, why not try it a second time?” he said.
The amendment was put on the ballot because “the institution of marriage is under attack,” insisted its sponsor, Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas.
Though the state already has three laws ensuring it does not allow or recognize same-sex marriages or unions, Marshall said the amendment is still necessary.
“If homosexuals didn’t have a litigation engine, I wouldn’t have put this in — but they do,” he said.
Opponents of the amendment say the issue is not about supporting marriage, but rather “regulating relationships that don’t fit some people’s definition of ‘traditional marriage,’ ” said Claire Gastanaga, campaign manager for The Commonwealth Coalition, a broad group of organizations against the amendment.
Gastanaga disagreed with Sabato on the measure’s electoral impact.
“I think [the amendment] is more a driver for those on the side opposed to its passage as opposed to those who support it,” Gastanaga told The Examiner.
“It is kind of indicative of how national Republicans play things out,” said Kristian Denny Todd, spokeswoman for Democratic Senate nominee Jim Webb. “Instead of discussing the real issues, they just change the subject, deflect people’s discussion on these types of hot-button issues.”
Bill Bozin, an Allen spokesman, would only say, “The senator supports the amendment and we think that puts him with the majority of Virginians.”
