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GMU officials fold up like a cheap lawn chair.

GMU cancels speech by director Moore. Creator of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' says he will show up anyway in support of free expression. By Paul Bradley - Times-Dispatch Staff Writer, Oct 1, 2004

FAIRFAX George Mason University officials called off "Fahrenheit 9/11" director Michael Moore's speech scheduled immediately before the election but Moore said he still plans to show up.

GMU officials said yesterday that the university had canceled Moore's planned Oct. 28 appearance on the Fairfax campus, a session for which he was to be paid $35,000.

The planned appearance just five days before the election drew strong protests from a pair of conservative state legislators from Northern Virginia, Del. Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, and Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William.

Richard H. Black:

RICHMOND — A House panel voted Friday to keep Virginia's law banning oral sex and sodomy between consenting adults, despite arguments that act is unenforceable and discriminates against homosexuals.

[...]

This year's measure, which sought to strike the crime from the books for consenting adults acting in private, sparked a heated debate in the committee Friday. The legislation would have kept restrictions on oral sex and sodomy for those under age 18 or those who commit those acts in public. Repealing the ban against sodomy would encourage homosexuality and "unravel the moral fabric of the Commonwealth of Virginia," said Del. Richard H. "Dick" Black, R-Loudoun. - Link

More on Richard H. Black:

RICHMOND — Delegate Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, has no apologies for sending state senators pink plastic replicas of a fetus last week. [...] Along with the dolls, Black attached a letter on official state letterhead, asking senators, "Would you kill this child?" - Link

Robert G. Marshall:

One of the most outspokenly anti-gay legislators in Virginia, he was the chief patron of HB 751, the so-called "Marriage Affirmation Act", which goes beyond prohibiting same sex marriage and civil unions to void existing private contracts between unmarried partners "which purport to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage".

"A marriage between persons of the same sex is prohibited. Any marriage entered into by persons of the same sex in another state or jurisdiction shall be void in all respects in Virginia and any contractual rights created by such marriage shall be void and unenforceable.

Any judge who rules the provisions of this section to be unconstitutional shall be deemed to have committed malfeasance in office and may be subject to impeachment under the provisions of Article IV, § 17 of the Constitution of Virginia." - Link

More on Robert G. Marshall:

Gays and lesbians have long known that the state's slogan "Virginia is for Lovers" does not apply to them. - Link

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