Lawsuit targets Virginia same-sex marriage ballot question

We're back with a new lawsuit filed by a church pastor in Virginia aimed at ballot question two on marriage equality. So the pastor wants to stop the question, but supporters of the proposed constitutional amendment say that it won't work. Fox 5's Tom Fitzgerald has more from Arlington. Well, Pastor Ben Purvis is with the Occoquan Bible Church in Prince William County in Woodbridge. Now, this lawsuit that he has brought is not just about opposing same-sex marriage. He says it's whether or not Virginia followed the proper procedures and steps in order to get this ballot question before voters. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed marriage equality back in 2015, and while same-sex couples have been getting married in Virginia ever since, Virginia's constitution still contains a ban against it. If question two is approved, That ban would be removed. Founding Freedom's Law Center is now suing to stop Question 2, with Pastor Purvis claiming proper procedures were not followed to get it onto the ballot. Question 2, the proposed amendment 2, would strike out the biblical definition of marriage from the Virginia state constitution. So instead of marriage being defined as between a man and a woman, which is how the scriptures define it, it's how marriage is created in Genesis. Question 2 asked if the constitution of Virginia should remove the ban on same-sex marriage, allowing that two adults can marry regardless of sex and require legally valid marriage to be treated equally. Delegate Kirk McPike of Alexandria led the effort to place question two on the ballot. He says this is about righting a wrong so the commonwealth's constitution reflects legal reality. What question two does is give Virginia voters a chance to make our constitution reflect our values by removing that discriminatory language and replacing it with an affirmative right of any two otherwise qualified people to marry. One big complication for this lawsuit is that early voting has already been underway in Virginia since back on September 18th. It's going to run until October 31st. It is unlikely, though, that this suit will go before a judge before Election Day on November 3rd. Fox 5 in Arlington. We'll send it back.