Wednesday, January 15, 2003

A story released today by the Associated Press reports that Virginia Lt. Gov. Timothy Kaine has taken up a cause formerly championed by a conservative Republican: creation of a new form of marriage that requires counseling before the wedding and before the couple can get a divorce.

Kaine said at a news conference Tuesday that his proposal is intended to strengthen marriage and has nothing to do with trying to appeal to more conservative voters.

"Everything I do, people will talk about the politics," said Kaine, his party's likely nominee for governor in 2005. "But for people who know me well, these are not surprising things."

The bill would require marriage license applicants to choose between a traditional union and a covenant marriage. The latter would require eight hours of counseling before the nuptials and an additional eight hours of counseling before a divorce. The couple also would sign an oath that they understand marriage is a lifelong commitment.

The waiting period for getting a divorce would remain one year. That is a substantial change from Del. Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia Beach previous proposal, which would have required a two-year separation before divorce.

"You wouldn't want to make it harder for someone to get out of an abusive situation," Kaine said.

McDonnell said that after seeing Kaine's bill, he decided to reintroduce his own legislation with the longer waiting period. He said Kaine's proposal "really is an optional counseling bill, not a true covenant marriage bill."

Covenant marriages have been slow to catch on in the other states that offer the option - Louisiana, Arizona and Arkansas. Kaine said the concept is too new to have lowered those states' divorce rates.

Del. J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax, is sponsoring Kaine's bill.

"It's important you respect the sanctity of marriage, and this bill really allows that," he said.

Del. Ward L. Armstrong, D-Martinsville and one of the leading critics of McDonnell's covenant marriage proposals, said he still has reservations about a two-tiered system of marriages.

"I don't think there should be some marriages that are held in higher regard than others," he said.