VIRGINIA – New reports highlight how Winsome Earle-Sears is “morally opposed” to marriage equality legislation Glenn Youngkin signed into law in 2024. In a handwritten note, Sears said “I remain morally opposed to the content of HB174” which protects the freedom of marriage equality in Virginia. 

What Virginians Are Reading: 

Virginia Scope: Democrats respond to the note from Earle-Sears on an anti-discrimination marriage bill

• While fulfilling her constitutional responsibility of signing legislation that passes the state Senate, Earle-Sears wrote that she is “morally opposed to the content of HB 174 as passed by the General Assembly.”
• “I think it’s pretty amazing that she felt so strongly about gay marriage, which I think probably 65 to 70% of Virginians support now — ought to be illegal that she felt so strongly she had to put that in writing for the record,” said Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax.
• Multiple sources tell Virginia Scope that it is very uncommon for the lieutenant governor or speaker of the House to add a note to legislation when signing it.
• Surovell said. “It’s not inconsistent with other behavior we’ve seen out of the lieutenant governor. She holds some very unique and interesting views, which I think once they start to come out, a lot of Virginia voters are going to be like, how do we ever elect this person?”
• Del. Rozia Henson, D-Prince William, the sponsor of the legislation, released a statement Thursday. “I am ‘morally opposed’ to the Lieutenant Governor’s demonstration of poor leadership,” Henson said.

Washington Blade: Va. LG opposed marriage equality affirmation bill in handwritten note

• Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears last year in a handwritten note indicated her opposition to marriage rights for same-sex couples when she signed a bill that affirmed marriage equality in the state.
• Activists have criticized her for her opposition to LGBTQ rights in Virginia.

LGBTQ NATION: GOP candidate hand-wrote a note into a bill to denounce marriage equality

• The Virginia Senate passed the bill, and Earle-Sears, who presides over the state senate, was required by the state constitution to sign it. She did, but not without leaving a handwritten note on it.
• “As the Lt. Governor, I recognize and respect my constitutional obligation to adhere to the procedures laid out in the Constitution of Virginia,” she wrote. “However, I remain morally opposed to the content of HB 174 as passed by the General Assembly.”

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