2007 Equality Virginia Lobby Day

Some photos from our day in Richmond lobbying the legislature. Each year, Equality Virginia holds a lobby day in Richmond to help educate the general assembly on LGBT issues and to address the legislation, both pro and con, that is introduced.

After having gone through the whole nasty amendment battle in 2006, I was expecting turn out to be down and it was, but we still had perhaps 250 people come out to speak with their representatives.

I feel blessed to have Delegate Plum and Senator Howell representing me. Speaking with them and then comparing that with some of the stories from those represented by some other legislators really drives that point home. For the most part, we in northern Virginia have lawmakers who really understand that civil liberties should be for everyone and not just a privileged few.

The good news of the day was HB1727 (this year’s anti-GSA bill) was defeated in committee, a major step forward. Unfortunately, it has an almost identically worded sibling introduced by another delegate. Hopefully it will die the same fate. Given how short the legislative session is, it seems a frivolous waste to force the same committee to debate the same bill twice in the same session but, sadly, it will to be defeated twice this year.

Overall, it was a great day! And, I managed to snag a few more photos along the way than I did last year.

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