50 Percent Of Virginians Support Gay Marriage

Fifty percent of Virginia voters support gay marriage.

According to a poll released Thursday by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University, 50 percent of voters in Virginia approve of gay nuptials, while 43 remain opposed.

A majority of Democrats (66-28%) and independents (52-39%) support marriage equality. Republicans, on the hand, remain opposed 68-26 percent.

While a majority of white voters are in support (51-43%), black voters are opposed 48-42 percent.

According to a survey released earlier this month by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and conducted by the Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and the Republican firm Target Point Consulting, 55 percent of Virginians support gay nuptials, while 41 percent remain opposed.

HRC's poll found support was highest (68%) in Northern Virginia, which borders the District of Columbia, a 2009 entry in the marriage equality column.

In 2006, voters overwhelmingly (57-43%) approved a constitutional amendment which prohibits the state from recognizing any union other than a heterosexual marriage.

Thursday's poll comes less than a week after the ACLU and Lambda Legal announced plans to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the amendment.

(Related: Gay marriage advocates file suits in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina.)