LGBT bills clear Virginia Senate and head to a friendly House of Delegates
RICHMOND — The Virginia Senate on Tuesday passed a host of LGBT rights bills as Democrats continued to flex their new power in the Capitol.
The Senate voted to ban conversion therapy on children, repeal the state’s now-defunct ban on same-sex marriage and establish statewide policies for the treatment of transgender students. The chamber also voted to replace “husband and wife” with gender-neutral “parties to the marriage” language in divorce law and make it easier for transgender people to change how their sex is listed on their birth certificates.
The bills now move to the Democratic-controlled House of Delegates, where they are expected to get a warm reception.
Advocates for expanded LGBT rights have long been stymied by the General Assembly, where Republicans have controlled at least one chamber for the past quarter-century. A few Senate Republicans were willing in recent years to team up with the Democratic minority on measures such as banning discrimination against LGBT people in housing and public employment. But those bills never got to the floor of the House of Delegates, where Republicans were also in charge.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/lbgt-bills-clear-virginia-senate-and-heads-to-a-friendly-house-of-delegates/2020/01/21/931c3fe2-3c88-11ea-8872-5df698785a4e_story.html