City Urges Richmond to End Same-Sex Discrimination

by Nicholas F. Benton

The Falls Church City Council will urge the Virginia legislature to decriminalize all non-commercial sexual relationships between consenting adults and to add the phrase, "sexual orientation," to the state's hate crimes statute as part of a 10-page "legislative package" it is slated to forward to Richmond next week.

In a section on "civil rights and personal freedom," the draft package reviewed by the Council at its work session this Monday says, "The City of Falls Church supports legislation that protects ands expands civil rights and personal freedoms, and opposes any legislation that is aimed at curtailing or diminishing those rights."

Richmond is expected to deal with proposed legislation attempting to circumvent last summer's U.S. Supreme Court mandate overturning anti-sodomy laws, as well as attempts to react against Massachusetts' gay marriage decision by establishing that unions certified in Massachusetts will not have standing in Virginia.

The Falls Church Council also advocates prohibiting employers from using genetic information for employment-related purposes and calls for protecting the rights of immigrant populations.

Falls Church citizens are also invited to make their own requests of their legislative representatives in Richmond at a town meeting set for Saturday, Jan. 17, at 1 p.m. in the Council chambers of City Hall, 300 Park Avenue. Both State Senator Mary Margaret Whipple and State Delegate Jim Scott will be present to hear from the public.

Then, on Thursday, Feb. 12, members of the Falls Church City Council are scheduled to visit Richmond for a "legislative day" sponsored by the Virginia Municipal League and the Virginia Association of Counties to forward the City's issues.

Sen. Whipple, Del. Scott and State Delegate Bob Hull will continue to report back to the Falls Church public through their rotating weekly columns in the News-Press.

In its legislative package discussed at a work session this Monday, the Falls Church City Council also asks to be named as a participating jurisdiction in legislation to create a Public Defender's Office in Arlington County. The office "would provide quality defense representation for lower income residents," according to the draft of the City's legislative package, which will get final approval from the Council Monday night.

A major concern expressed in the legislative package includes plans by the state to demand that the City increase its contribution to the Virginia Retirement Fund for members of the school system by up to $800,000 per year. The increase will represent a pass-through by the state of added costs to the system, although Governor Mark Warner has said he will try to cut the increase by about half.

Other elements of the City's package relate to increasing state revenues to other programs impacting the City and region, and some administrative changes to the City's charter.

All such charter changes must be approved by the General Assembly, and it is expected that the ones the City Council is proposing will pass without dissent. The changes, resulting from the work of a Personnel Task Force appointed by City Manager Dan McKeever, and a Charter Review Commission appointed by the City Council in 1998, are designed "to make the City's administrative and personnel regulations more flexible and easier to understand, and will clarify the administrative authority of the City Manager." In addition, they "will make the charter consistent with current practices of similar-sized jurisdictions in Virginia."

Overall, the state legislature will be focused on Governor Warner's tax reform package, which he unveiled in a meeting in Falls Church last month.

To contact this author: email nfbenton@fcnp.com