‘Honor of my life’: Lawmaker leaves VA Legislature for Spanberger administration

When Adam Ebbin entered the Virginia General Assembly 22 years ago, he was the only openly gay member – immediately confronted with legislation to limit gay rights. As he leaves the Virginia Senate, the marriage equality constitutional amendment he championed will be on the November ballot.

“Serving this body has been the great honor of my life,” Ebbin said in his farewell address last week.

He’s moving to a new role in Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.

When Ebbin first ran for the House of Delegates in 2003 to represent parts of Arlington and Alexandria, many voters were supportive, he said.

“I had one guy in Arlington say, ‘Are you the gay one?’ And I said, ‘Yeah,’ and then he said, ‘Well, good. We want you to go down there and give them a hard time,’” Ebbin recalled.

After joining the General Assembly, he was the only openly gay member for a decade.

“When I got here, no one, at least of the anti-gay people, didn’t say anything to my face, but that didn’t stop them from on the floor introducing and saying some pretty bizarre things about LGBT people,” Ebbin said.

By 2006, Republican lawmakers put a constitutional amendment on the ballot defining marriage as only between a man and a woman, banning same sex marriage. Voters approved it.

“I was disappointed that it stained the constitution,” Ebbin said.

“It just seemed mean spirited and wrong,” he said.

There was an also effort to block gay couples from adopting.

The tide began to turn in 2014 when the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down the Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal.

“The climate changed,” Ebbin said. “People saw that gay people were getting married and that the sky was not falling.”

More recently, Ebbin’s campaign for equality began to pay off when – in 2020 – he won approval of his Virginia Values Act outlawing discrimination in jobs, housing and public accommodations. He calls it his proudest achievement.

“I hope that in some way that I had an impact by making people feel that it was the right thing to do,” Ebbin said.

He also worked on measures to strip the 2006 same-sex marriage ban from the Virginia constitution. The so-called Marriage Equality Amendment just signed by Spanberger goes to voters in November.

Ebbin said casting his yes vote will be a special moment.

“I’ll read it and feel really proud of what we did,” he said.

“It will be nice to know that I finally got it done and that the words that I wordsmithed will be part of the Constitution of Virginia to protect people,” Ebbin said.

Ebbin, who also sponsored legislation to decriminalize marijuana, will serve in Spanberger’s administration as senior advisor to the Cannabis Control Authority.

After his farewell, Democrats and Republicans alike rose to praise him.

“He was very passionate about certain issues, but despite his passion, if you didn’t agree, he was always a gentleman,” said State Sen. Richard Stuart, R-District 25.

Loud, sustained applause came from both sides of the aisle for an elected leader who not only helped change laws but helped change the way Virginians live.