Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Hampton Roads Braces for Winter Storm


As noted in the prior post, our trip to Richmond for Equality Virginia's "Day of Action" was cut short due to a winter storm pushing up from the southwest hugging the coast.  I had really hoped to attend the legislative reception this evening - I have attended before - which is a great opportunity to talk with legislators over a cocktail (or two).  The image above shows predicted snow falls which for many areas of the country would be a non-event.  But with little snow removal equipment - Virginia Beach which covers a land area of 249 square miles and has a population of 437,000 has 30 trucks/plows total - a heavy snowfall creates chaos.  At the moment we have roughly 2" on the ground in Hampton and it is coming down hard.

One of the big concerns in the local LGBT community is whether the storm might delay the hearings in Bostic v. Rainey set for 9:00AM on Thursday morning.  Norfolk is in the area predicted to receive 10-12" of snow by the time the storm passes through mid day tomorrow.  Obviously, we hope the hearing is not delayed so that the Court can proceed with its opinion which hopefully will strike down Virginia's gay marriage ban. 

Weather permitting, the local MMCC Community Church had planned a vigil for tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM in advance of the Hearing in Bostic v. Rainey the following morning, and a gathering on January 30th commencing at 8:30AM.  Details on both events can be found here

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