VA: Virginia Governor Ralph Northam vetoes bill that would block sex offenders from emergency shelters
The legislation would have let shelter officials deny entrance for convicted sex offenders for however long was “necessary to ensure the safety of other individuals”. In a statement, the governor said that: “The underlying bill would have had significant and unacceptable public safety consequences.”
https://wjla.com/news/local/gov-northam-vetoes-bill-sex-offenders-in-shelters
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Sent this to the VA governor today to speak on behalf of VA registrants:
As someone required to register, I know I speak for many in your state when I say I appreciated your vote for humane treatment of all citizens in your state.
A contemporary authority on human rights wisely observed this:
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”
Your vote to preserve the dignity of our lowest citizens is in keeping with the spirit of the high ideals of basic human rights, enshrined in our founding documents with the belief that all persons are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. I have the utmost of respect for your willingness to take a stand for those who have no political voice, but who are nevertheless intently observing how they are treated by our system of government.
Your use of person-first language in your veto statement also shows you see persons on the registry as individuals and not merely the embodiment of an offense. No one wants to be forever defined by their worst moments and we are no exception. The vast majority of us want to move beyond our failures, just like everyone else, and if given the tools and opportunities to succeed, we will jump at the chance and won’t look back.
Thank you again, on behalf of the thousands of families in your state with loved ones on the registry.
Sincerely,
[name withheld]
More of us should be sending letters like these! Thank you for doing this.
So nicely said. Glad you sent it and glad you shared it.
James, great letter! We need more to speak out like this. We cannot cower into a corner and expect to be victors. Lack of education on the part of our society in connection with RSO’s is amazing. Truth be known, most of our society has probably committed some sort of sex offense during a lifetime. ‘Sex addiction’ is wired into our being and can only be overcome with help from God in our appeal to be in His will. Counselling is just man’s attempt to take God’s place. Sounds good, but only on the surface. I am a widower without female companionship. I pray every morning that I may spend the day in God’s will and I know that his will is ‘no sex outside of marriage’ and I am comfortable with that. He seems to fill my days with more than enough to keep me busy and on the right path in life. I find happiness in treating women as ladies as I try to be a gentleman. My wife was in the Navy for 20 years so I understand such a way of life.