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11 separation of church and state. She said she has issues with a bill that singles out a class of people for discrimination. She said she would never advocate to regulate how churches conduct their business and feels that would be wrong, but feels it is also not proper to make government follow a particular religious path. She said she will support the resolution and has not received a flood of negative calls. She said that while surveys show that people support a ban on gas marriage, surveys also show that two thirds of people support civil unions. She said supporting the resolution is standing up for fairness and is the right thing to do. Dr. Brown said that Ms. Hamilton summed up how he feels. He said he thinks Council should be careful in passing resolutions on national and state issues and that when they do it should be on issues that affect people locally. He said this passes that test. He said he hopes we can get something started statewide. Mr. Lynch said he feels the statute is mean spirited. He said he has no issue with what people believe in their own faith, but when they impose their religious beliefs on others in a punitive way he feels they cross the line. Mr. Schilling thanked Ms. Hamilton for her sincere remarks and asked that his comments be entered verbatim in the minutes. "I'd like to thank members of the public who have expressed opinions on this subject. I have heard and appreciate your comments. In the interest of focusing valuable City Council time on items over which this Council maintains jurisdiction, I will make my comments extremely brief: I'm concerned that through actions such as the one we are undertaking at this moment, that this Council overestimates its own importance, and in doing so undermines its own credibifity. I urge people interested in this issue to contact their State and Federal representatives directly." The Resolution Supporting a Repeal of the Ban on Same Sex Civil Unions was approved by the following vote. Ayes: Dr. Brown, Mr. Caravati, Ms. Hamilton, Mr. Lynch. Noes: Mr. Schilling. WHEREAS, the General Assembly passed House Bill 751 in the 2004 legislative session; and WHEREAS, HB 751 prohibits civil unions, "partnership contract(s) or other arrangement(s) between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage"; and WHEREAS, the bill also voids such unions, partnership contracts or arrangements made in other states by persons now living in Virginia; and WHEREAS, Governor Mark Warner offered amendments striking references to "partnership contracts or other arrangement(s)" in order to protect the rights and interests of Virginians; and and WHEREAS, the House of Delegates rejected these amendments on a 35-65 vote; and WHEREAS, HB 751 became law on July 1, 2004 as Virginia Code § 20-45.3; WHEREAS, this law violates the basic civil and constitutional rights of citizens of the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, Va. Code §20-45.3 could invalidate many types of contracts that gay, lesbian and straight partners have used in Virginia to construct legal arrangements such as power of attorney, joint custody arrangements and medical directives; and WHEREAS, invalidation of such contracts and arrangements might also cause loss of domestic partner health insurance and other employee benefits provided by Virginia employers, as well as jeopardize joint business partnerships, mutual wills and