A delegate’s committee vote on amending the state constitution comes with an apology.
The Daily Press
February 5, 2005
By John M. R. Bull
RICHMOND — Clarence “Bud” Phillips was downright apologetic about his vote for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.
The Southwest Virginia delegate helped vote it out of committee Friday but said that, for him, it wasn’t because gays and lesbians are bad people or that they don’t deserve justice and equal protection under the law.
His constituents don’t get the arguments against a constitutional ban, he said. They think marriage is under attack and that it needs to be preserved, even though Virginia law has prohibited gay marriage since 1986.