THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260551
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
``Chet from Lawrenceville'' minced no words Thursday in thanking Gov. George F. Allen for his effort to deny state first-time home loans to unmarried and gay couples.
``To do otherwise would be legitimizing their immorality and putting the Commonwealth's imprimatur on their abominal lifestyle,'' said Chet, a caller to Allen's monthly radio show.
Allen did not quibble with Chet's description of a Virginia Housing Development Authority decision this week to make loans available only to individuals or families related by married, blood or adoption.
Allen defended the VHDA policy as ``common sense'' meaning of a family.
``Is there a dictionary?'' Allen asked, casting around the studio at WRVA-AM near the Capitol. ``Find the definition of a family.''
During a commercial break in the hourlong show, an aide handed him an American Heritage Dictionary. The first entry read: ``A fundamental social group in society consisting especially of a man and woman and their offspring.'' The fourth definition stated, ``All members of a household under one roof.''
Allen never returned to the topic in the second half of the show. He later told reporters the dictionary proved his point.
``The VHDA went with the first definition, not the fourth definition,'' he said.
Civil liberty organizations have threatened to sue, saying that the narrow, conservative definition of family that Allen has imposed upon VHDA discriminates a wide variety of qualified homebuyers: gays, unmarried couples or single moms trying to pool their resources.
VHDA sells tax-exempt bonds to underwrite about 5,000 loans a year for low- and medium-income homebuyers. The agency formally opened eligibility to non-traditional families in July 1994. Before that, the agency rarely enforced a rule that required nonrelated applicants to be married.
``We processed their application like any other application,'' said VHDA spokesman Mike Anderson.
KEYWORDS: HOUSING LOANS by CNB