Virginia marriage equality amendment campaign launches at start of Pride Month
Chad Stewart and Blake McDonald met in college in 2007 and began dating two years later, eventually building a life together in Richmond after settling in Virginia more than a decade ago.
By 2015, the couple married — just one week before the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
“We didn’t want to have to think about politics or court cases,” McDonald said Monday outside the Bell Tower in Richmond’s Capitol Square. “We just wanted to dream about the future we’re going to build together.”
The couple spoke as Virginians for Marriage Equality formally launched its statewide campaign to pass a constitutional amendment referendum in November that would permanently protect same-sex marriage in the Virginia Constitution.
https://virginiamercury.com/2026/06/01/virginia-marriage-equality-amendment-campaign-launches-at-start-of-pride-month/
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RADIO IQ | By Brad Kutner
Published January 16, 2026 at 5:05 AM EST
Delegate Mark Sickles (left) and Senator Adam Ebbin hold laptops showing both of them speaking against Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage 20 years ago.
Virginia’s General Assembly enshrined a ban on same-sex marriage in the Commonwealth’s constitution back in 2006. Now, 20 years later, they’re taking the last legislative steps to roll back that ban. ... “This is not a civil rights issue. This is an issue that transcends time and transcends cultures," said former Republican Delegate Bob Marshall back in 2005. "We are defending and affirming marriage that is seriously under attack.” ... Radio IQ collected audio and video from the decades old floor sessions via the Library of Virginia's archive.
Marshall is a conservative official who’s name still sits in Virginia’s Constitution via the Marshall-Newman Amendment, passed in 2006, atop the Commonwealth’s ban on same-sex marriage. ... But Marshall is long gone from the General Assembly, and his beliefs about gay marriage, at least in the legislative chamber, are largely gone, too.
Following a 67-31 vote in the House Wednesday, Virginia’s Senate votes to repeal the constitutional ban Friday afternoon, 20 years later. ... But some legislators from that era remain, including Virginia’s first openly gay state lawmaker, now Senator — then Delegate — Adam Ebbin.
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Brad Kutner
Brad Kutner is Radio IQ's reporter in Richmond.