Virginia Lawmakers say ‘Virginia’s Not for Lovers Anymore’

For more than 35 years, residents of this state have advertised that ‘Virginia is for lovers.’ But that’s likely to change this week when members of the House of Delegates meet to try to agree upon a new slogan. The problem: by appealing to ‘lovers,’ say some members of the legislature, Virginia is promoting sex out of wedlock. Even worse, the current slogan doesn’t specify that the ideal definition of ‘lovers’ involves a man and a woman.

“Virginia: You Put Me in a Traditionalist State,” and other worthy contenders to replace a $40 billion jingle.

By Russell D’Arby, Swift Report correspondent

RICHMOND, VA—For more than 35 years, residents of this state have advertised that ‘Virginia is for lovers.’ But that’s likely to change this week when members of the House of Delegate meet to try to agree upon a new slogan. The problem: by appealing to ‘lovers,’ say some members of the legislature, Virginia is promoting sex out of wedlock. Even more objectionable, the current slogan doesn’t specify that the ideal definition of ‘lovers’ involves a man and a woman.

A controversial slogan
Virginia officially adopted the now infamous slogan in 1969, just two years after the so-called ‘Summer of Love’ ended. The brainchild of a $100 a week copy writer, the tagline was originally intended to highlight the various attractions that the Old Dominion state offered potential visitors: “Virginia is for beach lovers,” “Virginia is for mountain lovers,” or “Virginia is for history lovers.”

But ad executives deemed that approach too confusing, and went with the catchy—and increasingly controversial—catchphrase we know today: “Virginia is for lovers.” Since its adoption, the tourism business here has taken off, generating more than $14 billion each year. But while lawmakers relish the dollars that visitors spend at Virginia Beach, Busch Gardens and other attractions,  they worry that their state’s swinging slogan could be appealing to the wrong sorts of people.

No gay, no way
The search for a new slogan that more accurately reflects Virginia’s increasingly traditionalist bent is just the latest salvo in this state’s effort to reinvent itself. In March, the House of Delegates approved a measure that not only banned homosexual marriage in this state, but voided civil unions and other partnership contracts from other states.

Earlier this year, members of the House of Delegates voted to create special license plates extolling traditional marriage. While the festive plates, featuring two gold rings against the backdrop of a red heart, were later rejected by the senate, they symbolized to many that Virginia was no longer for lovers, but was instead a place for one man and one woman.

Virginia is for heterosexual lovers?
While Commonwealth legislators agree that they don’t want their state slogan to promote fornication or unnatural sex acts, the fight over what the new slogan should be is shaping up to be as bloody as any since the Battle of Trevilians. In one camp are the traditionalists, state boosters who point to the success of the original slogan and maintain that with just a bit of tweaking, their state can continue to reap the flow of tourist dollars, but from the ‘right’ sort of tourist. Their chosen replacement: “Virginia is for heterosexual lovers.”

But conservative lobbyist and Arlington, VA, resident Sandy Slokum, executive director of Defend Our Marriages, says that simply inserting the word ‘heterosexual’ doesn’t go far enough. “The problem here is that you’re still saying that it’s not just ok to be a lover in Virginia, in fact we encourage it. But as social conservatives we ought to be embracing abstinence before marriage.”

The virgin state
Even the increasingly powerful bloc of social conservatives is split on what Virginia’s slogan should be once the state is no longer for lovers. Proposed alternatives include “Virginia: You Put Me in a Traditionalist State,” and “Virginia: One Man, One Woman, One State.”

Ms. Slokum is working on an idea that, while admittedly a long shot, seems to get at the heart of the new Virginia. “We’re one of only two states in the union that have ‘virgin’ in our names,” says Slokum. “Why not figure out a way to capitalize on that?”

Do you have an idea for Virginia’s new state slogan? Send your idea to the Swift Report at russdarb@yahoo.com.

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