Leaving Virginia

WaPo is reporting today that some gays and lesbians are leaving the unfriendly confines of Virginia. Consider what Virginia is doing to them:

Virginia state legislators passed a law two years ago that prohibits "civil unions, partnership contracts or other arrangements between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage." A proposed constitutional amendment, which will go to voters in November, excludes any "unmarried individuals" from "union, partnership or other legal status similar to marriage."

Many gay people in Virginia and some family-law attorneys say they worry that the state law and proposed amendment are more far-reaching than simple bans on gay marriage -- that the measures could threaten the legal viability of the contracts used by gay couples to share ownership of property and businesses.

The exact effects are unclear, and the 2004 law remains untested, but some gays say they fear the laws could affect their ability to own homes together; to draft powers of attorney, adoption papers or wills; or to arrange for hospital visitation or health surrogacy.

I suspect that an exodus of gays and lesbians is precisely what some of these barbarian jurisdictions want. Perhaps they want all homosexuals, and whatever other people don't meet their narrow definition of moral purity, to remove themselves to Boston or San Francisco, where they can be effectively ghettoized, segregated from mainstream America, where their "illness" can be treated, where they can be collectively damned.

For many of these bigots, gays and lesbians are sub-human. In places like Virginia, they're not even worthy of some of the most basic civil liberties. Gays and lesbians shouldn't have to move, but can you blame them?