Adoption, Insurance benefits granted to homosexuals
FPN MEDIA ADVISORY – http://familypolicy.net/va
Homosexual adoption, Homosexual insurance policies OK’d by lawmakers in 2005
Traditional Marriage losing preeminence despite
Marriage Amendment success in General Assembly
(Richmond) – The same Virginia legislature that voted to preserve the definition of one-man, one-woman marriage has rejected a ban on gay adoptions and is simultaneously granting the benefits of marriage to anyone who wants them.
On February 16, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee killed legislation that would ban gay adoptions. In response to expert testimony about studies proving the deadly health consequences resulting from homosexuality, Senator Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) openly demonstrated his ignorance about statistics demonstrating early mortality resulting from homosexual sex acts by saying, “I have never heard of any of these studies. If homosexuals were dying at the same rate as prostitutes it would be on the front page of every newspaper. I am hearing this for the first time.”
The health consequences associated with homosexuality cannot be overstated. For example, an Oxford University study of homosexual men in Canada just a decade ago (see related link below) estimated that “nearly half of gay and bisexual men” that were 20 years old at the time of the study would “not reach their 65th birthday.” Virginia citizens who work hard and lead healthy lives should not be forced to subsidize the obvious health consequences of a deadly, dangerous, and illegal lifestyle.
Today, the full House of Delegates will vote to give homosexual “couples” insurance rights that have previously been reserved for married spouses and their dependant children. Current Virginia law allows insurance coverage to be extended to spouses and children under age 19 and/or children under age 25 who are full-time students. If signed into law by Governor Warner, the proposed change would add, “any other class of persons;” thereby giving homosexual “couples” the ability to receive insurance benefits through their sexual partners’ policies.
This bill’s passage could have unexpected consequences since homosexuals consume a disproportionate amount of health care services. Although an employer would not be forced to offer health insurance to a homosexual partner, there certainly will be pressure brought to do so. In fact, some companies that do business both in Virginia and California are forced by a San Francisco ordinance to offer employees’ same-sex partners’ health care benefits everywhere those companies have an office, EXCEPT where it is otherwise prohibited by law – – like in Virginia. While the supporters of this bill claim it merely gives businesses the ‘freedom’ to offer these benefits to their employees, the fact is the current wording of the law gives some companies the freedom NOT to offer them.
Homosexual activists were the chief proponents of SB1338′s look-a-like bill last year, unsuccessfully arguing the language was an attempt to insure a variety of non-familial relationships, rather than an attempt to endorse homosexual behavior. This year, homosexual lobbyists took a “behind-the-scenes” role in an attempt to hide the obvious intent of this legislation to be used later to legitimize homosexual ‘couples.’
Several lawmakers that voted to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman voted for the pro-homosexual bills, too. FPN President Joe Glover said, “These politicians are enjoying the accolades of conservatives for preserving marriage, while they simultaneously erode marriage’s preeminent place in society.”
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The following 49 Delegates voted FOR the “Gay Insurance” bill on Thursday:
Albo, Alexander, Amundson, BaCote, Barlowe, Baskerville, Bell, Brink, Callahan, Dillard, Ebbin, Eisenberg, Hall, Hamilton, Hargrove, A.T. Howell (NOT the House Speaker), Hull, Joannou, Johnson, D.C. Jones, Keister, Louderback, Marrs, Melvin, Miles, Miller, Moran, Morgan, O’Bannon, Orrock, Parrish, Petersen, Plum, Pollard, Purkey, Rust, Saxman, J.M. Scott, Shannon, Shuler, Sickles, Spruill, Suit, Tata, Van Yahres, Ward, Wardrup, O. Ware (NOT Lee Ware), Watts
These 48 Delegates cast pro-family votes AGAINST the “Gay Insurance” bill:
Abbitt, Armstrong, Athey, Black, Bryant, Byron, Carrico, Cline, Cole, Cosgrove, Cox, Dudley, Fralin, Frederick, Gear, Griffith, Hogan, W. Howell (Speaker), Hugo, Hurt, Ingram, Janis, S. C. Jones, Kilgore, Landes, Lewis, Lingamfelter, D.W. Marshall, R.G. Marshall, May, McDonnell, McDougle, McQuigg, Nixon, Nutter, Oder, Phillips, Putney, Rapp, Reese, Reid, E. T. Scott, Sherwood, Stump, R.L. Ware, Weatherholtz, Welch, Wright
Not voting:
Councill, VanLandingham
Click here to see which members of the Senate supported SB1338
RELATED INFORMATION:
See Family Policy Network’s reaction to the passage of SB1338:
http://va.familypolicy.net/index.php?p=18
Review the Oxford University study on early mortality resulting from homosexuality:
http://ije.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/3/657
For more on the health consequences of homosexuality, see:
http://familypolicy.net/features/PPR-sodomy.php
Senate Bill 1338 (Homosexual insurance bill):
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+sum+SB1338
Review SB1338′s look-a-like bill from last year:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?041+sum+HB1016
House Bill 2921 (Homosexual adoption ban):
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+sum+HB2921