Building a Firewall Around Virginia in 2025

by Maggie Sacra

As we approach the Holiday Season for 2024, we had all hoped to be in a more festive mood. The beginning of November had most of us filled with a cautious optimism that misogeny, hatred, and nastiness would be defeated. We were hopeful that joy, decency, and morality would win, and that January 20th would be a dawn of a new beginning for our country. Unfortunately we were not triumphant on Election Day and we have four years of hard work ahead of us to keep our Democracy, and prepare for a country and a world after 47. Our first big test will be with elections for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General, as well as all of the House of Delegates, in November 2025. We absolutely must regain these three statewide offices, and build our lead in the House of Delegates. This will help us hold a firewall around Virginia. We cannot express just how important that is for our LGBT+ citizens, and frankly all our citizens in the Commonwealth.

We hope to do all we can to not only hold the line in Virginia, but to gain some ground for equity and fairness for all citizens. On November 13th, the Democratic-led House Privileges and Elections Committee passed three amendments to the Virginia Constitution that will now move to the full House of Delegates to be considered. These three amendments will guarantee reproductive freedom, automatically restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies after they are released from incarceration, and enshrine the right to same-sex marriage in the Virginia Constitution. If these amendments pass the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate this year, we will need to get them passed again next year by both houses after the new House of Delegates is sworn in January 2026. Only then can these amendments finally go to the voters of Virginia. This is a long process that we absolutely need to successfully complete!

It is not going to be an easy year or an easy four years, but we can do it together! All of us need to step up and do everything we can. It is going to be difficult, it will test us, but with every step we complete we will be stronger and we will be more resilient. Loss like the one we had in November is hard and we all need some time to regroup and get our strength back, but we can do it. Earlier this year, our caucus lost our Vice Chair for Outreach, Don Davenport. Don had served in that position since almost the beginning of the caucus. He and his husband, Chuck, have been all over the Commonwealth for well over a decade. They’ve met many of you at parades, marches, Pride events, Lobby Days at the Capital, and many other events too numerous to mention. Outreach was so important to him that we established a Don Davenport Memorial Outreach Fund that many of you gave to earlier this year. We know it isn’t a great time around the holidays to ask for a donation, but we hope that you will go to our webpage, sign up for our email list if you aren’t already on it, and if you can, join or renew your membership and/or donate today to help us become stronger for 2025 and the years ahead. We depend on you to support our work financially and with your volunteer time. Nothing happens without our members and donors! Thanks!

We hope you have a great Holiday Season and a wonderful New Year! Get some rest and recharge your batteries!

Thank you for all your support in the past and your continued support in the future!