| | Dear John, It’s the home stretch of the 2020 General Assembly session with only one more week left! We’ve seen some historic successes just this week alone, and we continue to see bills important to the LGBT community advance. It will take everyone staying involved to transform the legal landscape for LGBT Virginians. Keep reading to find out about the amazing wins this week, and how you can help secure equality for all Virginians. | |  | General Assembly Update As the General Assembly session is nearing its end, we are thrilled to see so many pro-equality bills making their way to the Governor’s desk, including the senate version of Virginia Values Act! This is the moment our community has been waiting decades to happen, and we could not be on the precipice of this monumental change without you. Thank you for standing up for LGBT equality again and again. The senate version of the Virginia Values Act, Senator Adam Ebbin’s SB 868, began its last round through both chambers on Monday. It will ban discrimination against LGBT people in employment, housing, and public spaces. After passing the House with a vote of 54-46 at the beginning of the week, the Senate agreed to the House’s substitute with a vote of 27-13, and SB 868 is now on its way to the Governor! This historic victory will make Virginia the first state in the South, and the 21st state in the US, to have full non-discrimination protections for LGBT people! It's not over yet though.The Governor is hearing from our opposition, and he needs to hear from supporters of equality to make sure he signs a clean bill with no amendments or vetoes - click here to send a message of support! | |  | | | HB 618 also passed through both chambers on Monday. Delegate Kenneth Plum’s bill recognizes hate crimes against someone based on sexual orientation or gender identity and increases penalties. It was passed in the Senate with a vote of 24-16 and adopted by the House with a vote of 54-43 on Wednesday. Tuesday was another busy day, where two of our bills progressed through both chambers. First, the Senate accepted SB 657’s House substitute with a vote of 24-16. Senator Jennifer Boysko’s SB 657 makes it easier to obtain a new birth certificate with an updated gender marker. Second, Senator Scott Surovell’s SB 246 passed the House with a vote of 57-43, which will allow Virginians to select and third gender marker option on DMV licenses and IDs. Both bills are now on their way to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. This will make Virginia the 17th state to offer a third gender marker option on state IDs! On Thursday, Delegate Marcus Simon’s HB 1041 was reported from the Senate’s committee on Education and Health with a vote of 9-5 - it is the companion bill to SB 657. Ending the week strong, the Senate General Laws and Technology advanced two bills important to LGBT Virginians. Delegate Adam Levine’s HB 1049, which would update the Virginia code with protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, advanced in committee with a vote of 9-3. Delegate Mark Sickle’s HB 1663, the house version of the Virginia Values Act and companion bill to SB 868, advanced in the Senate General Laws and Technology committee with a vote of 9-2. The committee hearing was a critical one as anti-equality advocates sent out the call for their people to pack the room. Luckily, we had an incredible turnout of our own supporters from across the state to show the senators that fairness is a Virginia value. Thank you to everyone who joined us in-person! To cap off the week, Senator Scott Surovell’s SB 245, which bans conversion therapy by licensed professionals on minors passed in the House with a vote of 62-35. It already passed the Senate and will now head to the Governor's desk. | |  | Next week is the final week of session, and we won’t stop pushing until all pro-equality legislation passes the General Assembly. As the session is reaching its end, we know that we could not be here without all the support that you have given: from phone calls made to senators and delegates, Crowd the Capitols, and Day of Action. You made this a watershed year for LGBT equality. If you want to keep up with what’s taking place in the House and Senate chambers with pro-equality legislation, check out our Facebook page or the 2020 General Assembly page on our website. | | | | | |  | Richmond & Remote Volunteer Team Our partners at NEAT and the amazing remote volunteer team were able to make over 2,000 calls this week to constituents of supportive legislators across the Commonwealth. Their work enabled some vital Thank You calls to legislators who have taken a stand to support LGBT equality in Virginia. There's still some time to be a part of our remote team and help send some love to our legislative allies. To sign up, go to theneat.org/va. This week was our last official Richmond phone bank and data entry night for the General Assembly session! Our fantastic team called constituents and helped 40 people through the process of calling their legislators to advocate for the Virginia Values Act! A big thank you to everyone who has helped leading up to and through the Session. | | | | |  | Crowd the Capitol On the eve of the final votes for the Virginian Values Act, supporters met with lawmakers to thank them for supporting non-discrimination protections. Our final Crowd the Capitol event took place this Tuesday and highlighted anti-violence and public safety advocates, including Captain Faith Flippo, the Richmond Police Department’s LGBTQ Liaison. Our attention now turns to Governor Ralph Northam’s desk as we eagerly await the signing of this and so many other important LGBT bills. Unfortunatley, he's hearing a lot from the opposition right now, so we need to encourage him to sign a clean bill into law. | | | | | | | |  | Hampton Roads Volunteer Team We are everywhere! You might have seen the Hampton Roads team talking with supporters of LGBT equality at the bar, at church, at a PFLAG meeting, at community events across the region, or knocking on your door at one of our canvasses. Our amazing volunteers have mobilized over 700 supporters to call their legislators in support of the Virginia Values Act since we launched our campaign in Hampton Roads. Now, we’re committed to pushing the VA Values Act over the finish line, so be sure to sign up for a volunteer shift at bit.ly/VolunteerForTransRights. | | | | |  | Celebrate with Us! With so many wins at the General Assembly this year, we have a lot to celebrate! Join us at the 17th Annual Commonwealth Dinner on March 28th to honor our OUTstanding Virginians, and all of the work from the LGBT community that has led to this historic moment. If you own or work with a business that wants to support LGBT equality, we hope you'll consider contributing to our silent auction! If you would like to support this event behind-the-scenes and still enjoy the special evening, please sign up here to volunteer. There's only a month left before the big event, so get your tickets soon. This will be a night you won't want to miss! | | | | | | | | | | | | Equality Virginia
530 E Main St Ste 600 | Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 643-4816 | [email protected] | | | | | | | | | | | |
