Report: Virginia Attorney General to Fight State’s Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Virginia’s attorney general announced Thursday that he believes the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and that Virginia will ask a federal court to strike it down, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

A spokeswoman for Democrat Mark R. Herring told the newspaper he thinks the ban is unnecessary and plans to file a brief on behalf of two same-sex couples in Norfolk who are challenging the ban, which was approved by voters in 2006, 57 percent to 43 percent.

“The attorney general has concluded that the ban violates the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution on two grounds — one, marriage is a fundamental right being denied to some Virginians, and two, the ban unlawfully discriminates on a basis of sexual orientation and gender,” spokeswoman Ellen Qualls told the newspaper.

Herring, took office Jan. 11, succeeding Republican Ken Cuccinelli, who opposes same-sex marriage. Herring voted for the ban as a state senator in 2006, but says that he has changed his views on the issue in recent years.

“I talked to a lot of people, I thought a lot about it, talked to my family, and I have seen how I would not want the state to tell my son or my daughter who they can and cannot marry,” Herring said last August, according to the report.

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