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It’s Official: Conversion Therapy Is Now Illegal In Virginia

Marilyn Drew Necci | March 5, 2020

Topics: conversion therapy, General Assembly 2020, Patrick Hope, Sam Brinton, Scott Surovell, Trevor Project, Virginia Department of Health

Governor Northam signed a bill outlawing the practice on Monday, bringing years of struggle by LGBTQ advocates to a victorious end.

Virginia has officially become the 20th state to prohibit conversion therapy for minors, and the first in the American South. House Bill 386, introduced by 47th District Delegate Patrick Hope, passed both houses of the General Assembly with some bipartisan support, and this week it crossed Northam’s desk and made it into Virginia law.

“This issue is personal for me, as a pediatric neurologist who has cared for thousands of children,” Northam said in a statement released to accompany the signing of the bill. “Conversion therapy is not only based in discriminatory junk-science, it is dangerous and causes lasting harm to our youth. No one should be made to feel wrong for who they are — especially not a child. I’m proud to sign this ban into law.”

Advocates were equally positive about Virginia’s passing of the ban on conversion therapy.

“As a survivor of this dangerous and fraudulent practice, I can’t fathom just how many young LGBTQ lives may be saved with these critical protections from conversion therapy,” said Sam Brinton of the LGBTQ youth suicide prevention group the Trevor Project in a statement. “At The Trevor Project, we hear from LGBTQ youth in crisis every day and we know that those who are subjected to conversion therapy are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide. This bold action will send a message to all LGBTQ young people in the great Commonwealth of Virginia that they are loved and deserve support.”

The new law prohibiting conversion therapy for minors will go into effect on July 1, but advocates have been working toward it for years now. Before Democrats gained control of both houses of the General Assembly earlier this year, bans against conversion therapy had repeatedly been proposed within both the Senate and House Of Delegates, but repeatedly failed to pass, and were often not even brought to a full floor vote in the House Of Delegates.

However, progress against this harmful practice did occur even before the General Assembly changed hands, as three different boards regulating mental health professionals in Virginia — the Board of Social Work, the Board of Psychology, and the Board of Counseling — all issued guidance prohibiting the practice in 2019. As well, multiple cities within the state, including Richmond and Virginia Beach, passed resolutions in 2019 asking the General Assembly for a ban on conversion therapy for minors.

Del. Hope’s bill was not the only conversion therapy bill introduced this year; in the state Senate, 36th district Senator Scott Surovell introduced a similar one, which also received significant support. The two bills were combined during reconciliation between the two houses of the General Assembly.

“Conversion therapy is a dangerous, destructive practice,” said Del. Hope in a statement. “We should be supporting and celebrating our LGTBQ youth, not putting them in harm’s way.”

Top Photo by Landon Shroder, RVA Mag file photo

Birth Certificate Modernization Bills Pass Both Houses of General Assembly

Marilyn Drew Necci | February 27, 2020

Topics: birth certificates, DMV, driver's license, General Assembly 2020, Jennifer Boysko, Non-Binary, Real ID, Scott Surovell, Virginia Values Act, Zakia McKensey

Good news for Virginia’s trans and non-binary community — bills allowing non-binary gender markers on state IDs and changing of name and gender markers on birth certificates are headed to the governor’s desk.

Being transgender or non-binary in our less-than-accepting society can lead to a lot of difficulties, but two bills currently awaiting Governor Northam’s signature will make at least one aspect of trans and non-binary Virginians’ lives a little easier: getting legal identification that matches your gender identity and outward presentation.

The struggle to update Virginia’s gender marker change procedure is a fight that Virginia’s LGBTQ advocates and their allies in the state legislature have been having for years, to no avail. However, in this first General Assembly session to feature a Democratically-controlled GA, the difference has been like night and day. For one thing, the Virginia Values Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing, employment, and public accomodation on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, is on its way to the governor for his signature. For another, two less discussed but just as important bills making it easier for transgender and non-binary Virginians to obtain correct ID documents are headed for Gov. Northam’s desk.

The first is SB 246, a bill introduced by state Senator Scott Surovell which will allow Virginians to identify themselves as non-binary on driver’s licenses and identification cards. The bill specifically requires DMV to offer a third option, “non-binary,” along with “male” and “female” on the form designating an applicant’s sex as listed on DMV-issued identification. Virginia would then join 15 other states and DC in offering legal recognition to non-binary gender identities.

The second is SB 657, introduced by Delegate Jennifer Boysko, which allows trans people a much easier path to change the name and gender markers listed on their birth certificate. Boysko has been attempting to pass a similar bill for years; the bill she introduced in 2018 with a similar goal was passed by indefinitely by a House subcommittee. This year’s model would allow for a transgender person requesting a birth certificate with updated name and gender marker to submit a form completed by a health care provider stating that the person making the request had “undergone clinically appropriate treatment for gender transition.”

This would replace the current legal requirement for “a certified copy of a court order indicating that the sex of the person has been changed by medical procedure,” both allowing applicants to avoid the lengthy process of obtaining a court order, and, most importantly, eliminating the need for a “medical procedure,” generally understood to mean gender-reassignment surgery, in order to update their birth certificate.

Real ID driver’s license vs. non-Real ID driver’s license (Images via DMV)

This isn’t a minor change; while surgical procedures associated with gender transition are often part of the public discourse about transgender people, the fact is that for most, such surgeries are economically out of reach. Many health care plans do not offer coverage for them, and such surgeries are not available anywhere in Virginia, thereby requiring interstate travel and the ability to obtain longterm convalescence away from home.

And, as advocates have pointed out, many trans people do not feel the necessity to have surgical procedures done in order to live as their true gender.

“Not all trans people look to have medical surgery to identify as trans,” said Nationz Foundation founder Zakia McKensey in a 2018 interview with GayRVA. “Being trans can be legal, it can be medical, and it can be social — Legally changing your name, or socially having people identify you as your new name, or changing the way you dress… it shouldn’t be a requirement to have a surgical procedure to identify you as transgender.”

By easing the path toward a change of gender markers on birth certificates, SB 657 will by extension make some issues that have cropped up for transgender Virginians with the arrival of Real ID easier to navigate. It will enable trans Virginians who’ve had their gender markers updated through DMV (which does not require a certificate of medical procedure) to ensure that all of their legal documents match, and that no unwanted red tape will prevent them from being able to fly.

In the end, what these bills mainly demonstrate is that elections have consequences, and sometimes they are very good ones. Within two months of the new Democratic General Assembly being sworn in, many positive changes that LGBTQ Virginians have struggled to obtain for years have already come to pass. It’s hard not to be excited about that.

Top Photo: A rainbow flag was raised on Sept. 23, 2019, along with a trans flag and the Philly Pride Flag, for Richmond Pride. (Photo from City of Richmond Flickr account)

Hundreds of LGBTQ Advocates Lobby Lawmakers for Protections

VCU CNS | February 7, 2020

Topics: Adam ebbin, anti-LGBTQ discrimination, Barbara Favola, danica roem, Day of Action, Department of Education, Eileen Filler-Corn, Emma Yackso, Equality Virginia, General Assembly 2020, hate crimes, Jennifer Boysko, Library of Virginia, Mark Levine, Mark Sickles, Patrick Hope, Scott Surovell, Side By Side, transgender students, Vee Lamneck, Virginia Values Act

Equality Virginia and the Commonwealth’s LGBTQ community continue to lobby state legislators for important LGBTQ protections. Now that Democrats control the General Assembly, they’re having some success.

The day after hundreds lobbied lawmakers on behalf of LGBTQ rights during Equality Virginia’s Day of Action, two significant bills advanced in the General Assembly to further protections for the state’s LGBTQ residents. 

The House passed a bill from Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, on Wednesday to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, insurance, and banking. 

A Senate bill that adds gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability as reportable hate crimes, introduced by Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, reported from committee. The bill would also guarantee that victims would be able to bring civil action to recover damages against their offender. 

Vee Lamneck, executive director of Equality Virginia, was “cautiously optimistic” at the start of the legislative session, but said Tuesday during the organization’s annual lobby event that there is much to celebrate.

Equality Virginia lobbied their lawmakers to support LGBTQ bills during their Day of Action. League of Women Voters members Lois Page and Lynn Johnston regularly attend the weekly roundtables. Photo: Vee Lamneck, Equality Virginia

Lamneck noted that most of the bills supported by Equality Virginia, a group that advocates on behalf of the LGBTQ community, are still alive and advancing. Last session, most of those bills failed to pass from Republican-led subcommittees.

“This legislation will ensure that people are not discriminated against in housing, employment, public spaces, and credit,” Lamneck said.

LGBTQ youth showed up to make their voices heard too. Side by Side, a group dedicated to creating supportive communities for LGBTQ youth, helped sponsor the event.

“We want them to see that it’s easy and accessible, and what it’s like to actually be involved in the legislative process,” said Emma Yackso, director of youth programs and services for Side by Side. “A lot of them for many, many reasons don’t feel like they belong in government, don’t feel like their voices are actually ever going to be listened to.”

Groups visited legislators to discuss LGBTQ-related causes such as conversion therapy, housing instability, religious liberty, protection from discrimination, and the vulnerability of African American transgender communities. 

“We know that people who live at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities often face the most discrimination, harassment, and, unfortunately, sometimes violence as well,” Lamneck said.

The lobbying event was followed by an afternoon of workshops at the Library of Virginia and a reception to thank lawmakers. 

Equality Virginia hosted their Day of Action at the Library of Virginia on Tuesday to promote LGBTQ bills and rights. Photo: Maia Stanley, Capital News Service

 Some of the legislation that has advanced in the General Assembly — mostly with bipartisan support — includes two bills introduced by Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax. Senate Bill 657 would make it easier to change a person’s name and gender on a birth certificate. SB 161 would make the Department of Education create and implement policies concerning the treatment of transgender students in public schools; a duplicate bill in the House also passed.

The Senate also passed SB 245, introduced by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, which would ban the practice of conversion therapy in Virginia on patients under age 18. A similar bill introduced by Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, recently passed the House. On Tuesday, the House passed a health care bill introduced by Del. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or status as a transgender individual. 

Advocates also celebrated that two bills referred to as the Virginia Values Act have made it to the floors of their respective chambers: SB 868, introduced by Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, and HB 1663, introduced by Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax. Both would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, credit transactions, employment and public spaces.

“We speak with many individuals from across the Commonwealth who have shared with us their experiences of discrimination,” Lamneck said. “And not just that, but the fact that they live in fear, day to day experiencing discrimination. And so the Virginia Values Act will have a profoundly positive impact on the community.”

Deanna Bayer (left), volunteer for the Day of Action, and Dorthy Kelley (right), an employee of Equality Virginia, greet participants for workshops and events. Photo: Maia Stanley, Capital News Service

Gov. Ralph Northam and Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, attended an evening reception to wrap up the Day of Action. 

“This session we are going to ensure it is no longer legal in Virginia to discriminate against someone because of who they love,” Filler-Corn tweeted. Two House bills that add gender, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation as reportable hate crimes and a House bill replacing terms such as “husband and wife” with gender-neutral terms have yet to advance through their respective committees prior to crossover day on Feb. 11.

Written by Maia Stanley, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash.

A Ban On Conversion Therapy Has Now Passed Both Houses of the General Assembly

Marilyn Drew Necci | February 5, 2020

Topics: Adam Trimmer, Born Perfect, conversion therapy, Department of Health Professions, General Assembly 2020, Patrick Hope, Richmond city council, Scott Surovell, Virginia Beach City Council, Virginia Board of Psychology

Virginia’s as close as it’s ever been to banning conversion therapy for minors. And it seems likely we’ll get there before the end of the current General Assembly session.

On January 24, Virginia Senator Scott Surovell’s bill banning conversion therapy for minors passed the Senate. And on Monday, February 3, Delegate Patrick Hope’s similar bill passed the House of Delegates. These two advances put Virginia closer to passing a full ban on conversion therapy than it’s ever been. And it’s only taken the General Assembly’s transfer to Democratic control to make it happen.

In previous years, when Republicans controlled both houses of the state legislature, bills banning conversion therapy were repeatedly struck down, often never making it to a floor vote in the House Of Delegates. Advocates for the ban have instead had to work through other means.

They’ve been successful to an extent — the Virginia Board of Psychology and multiple state agencies within the Department of Health Professions have released guidance stating that conversion therapy is a violation of standard practice. Additionally, both Richmond and Virginia Beach City Councils have passed resolutions asking the General Assembly to enact a ban on conversion therapy.

While the bills must still go through the reconciliation process, in which each House passes the other’s bill and the bills are combined into one that can be sent to the governor for signing, the bills passed their biggest hurdle just by getting the initial votes needed to pass each house of the General Assembly. And Adam Trimmer, Virginia ambassador for anti-conversion therapy group Born Perfect, was grateful to see that happen.

“When I think about my experience, I get pretty angry,” Trimmer told WTVR, referring to his own experience undergoing conversion therapy. “I had years of my life taken away from me, and I’m excited that doesn’t have to happen with youth anymore.”

Top Photo By Varmin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia

100 Years After Women Earned the Right to Vote, Will VA Legislators Pass Equal Rights Amendment?

VCU CNS | December 27, 2019

Topics: Anne Schlafly Cori, constitutional amendments, danica roem, Eagle Forum, Equal Rights Amendment, General Assembly, Generation Ratify, Glen Sturtevant, hala ayala, Jennifer Carroll Foy, Jennifer McClellan, Mark Cole, Scott Surovell, US Constitution, va ratify era, Virginia Legislative Black Caucus

With a new Democratic majority in the General Assembly, Virginia could become the 38th state to ratify the ERA. Generation Z, people of color, and the LGBTQ community are leading a new generation in the decades-long fight to add the amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

University of Virginia student Emilia Couture had no idea what the Equal Rights Amendment was before her sister told her about the amendment a few years back.

Now as the outreach director of Generation Ratify, a youth-led movement created to ratify the ERA, Couture and many others are leading a new generation in the decades-long fight to add the amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“It’s time to change the face of the movement by including the next generation — the youth,” Generation Ratify said on its website. 

The ERA seeks to guarantee equal rights in the U.S. Constitution regardless of sex. The amendment was introduced in Congress in 1923, roughly three years after the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. It took Congress nearly five decades to pass the amendment, which still needed to be approved by 38 states. Two deadlines passed without the required approval. By the 1980s, 35 states had ratified the amendment, but it wasn’t until recent years that the movement gained more momentum. Nevada and Illinois ratified the ERA in 2017 and 2018, respectively. With a new Democratic majority in the General Assembly, Virginia could become the 38th state to ratify the ERA. 

Despite being born nearly two decades after the ERA’s last ratification deadline in 1982, Couture believes young people are aware of intersectionality, and want to implement inclusivity in the ERA.

Members of Generation Ratify at a VA Ratify ERA rally (via Generation Ratify/Instagram)

According to Generation Ratify, gender equality is an intersectionality issue, which means that when social categorizations like race and gender combine, members of more than one minority group experience other disadvantages than just gender inequality. 

“I think for a long time, the ERA movement has largely been a white women’s movement, and it’s really problematic that it has been,” Couture said. 

The amendment has diverse support in the state legislature, including men. According to a 2016 poll conducted by the ERA Coalition, the ERA is supported by a majority of men and women. Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Richmond, sponsored ERA legislation in 2019, and Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, introduced bills in the past two years to ratify the amendment.

 Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, said African American women and women of color were overlooked in the building of the ERA and women’s rights, but now these women are leading the push for the ERA. 

Sen. Pat Spearman, D-North Las Vegas, an openly lesbian, African American woman, led the fight in Nevada to ratify the ERA. Spearman served as the chief sponsor of the 2017 resolution to ratify the ERA in the Nevada Legislature, approved that year.

“It is a symbol of the fact that we are becoming a more perfected union and we understand that equality matters,” Spearman said.

Long-time ERA advocates and new advocates for the amendment join together to discuss the history of the fight for equality. (Photo by Christopher Brown)

Virginia legislators have made multiple attempts to ratify the ERA. This year, Senate Joint Resolution 284 to ratify the ERA passed the Senate, but never made it out of a House subcommittee. Four Republicans voted against the resolution in a subcommittee, while two Democrats voted for it. During the vote, Del. Margaret Ransone, R-Westmoreland, said she voted against the resolution because she doesn’t need words on a piece of paper representing women’s equality because “God made us all equal.”

Del. Hala Ayala, D-Prince William, one of two Latinas elected to the General Assembly in 2017, said in a recent interview with Capital News Service that she doesn’t understand why some members of the Republican party would “argue the moral obligation that we have to not only look towards our constituents, who overwhelmingly supported this, but also women, who wanted their voices to be heard.”

Democrats then filed motions for rule changes that would have the amendment heard on the House floor and give delegates a chance to vote on it, but the motions failed.

Several members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus are leading the push to ratify the ERA in the upcoming General Assembly session. Ayala is chief co-patron on House Joint Resolution 1, sponsored by Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D- Prince William. McClellan and Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, are chief patrons of Senate Joint Resolution 1, which seeks to ratify the amendment in the Senate.

Carroll Foy said that she believes that the ERA has a far-reaching impact on women of color than other marginalized groups due to inequality in pay.

“As an African American woman, I am paid approximately 60 cents to a man’s dollar,” Carroll Foy said. 

While the ERA does not explicitly talk about equal pay for women, Carroll Foy said she believes that adding the amendment to the Constitution would be the anchor when it comes to passing equal pay legislation. 

R to L: Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, former Illinois Republican House Rep. Steven Andersson and Nevada Democratic Sen. Pat Spearman. (Photo by Christopher Brown)

However, not all women advocate for the amendment’s passage. Anne Schlafly Cori, chairman of the Eagle Forum, an advocacy organization for conservative values, said the ERA would harm women.

“ERA does not put women in the Constitution, ERA puts sex in the Constitution,” Schlafly Cori said. “Sex has a lot of other meanings besides men and women.”

Schlafly Cori’s mother, Phyllis Schlafly, founded the Eagle Forum. During the 1970s, Schlafly was a strong opponent of the ERA. For the new generation, Schlafly Cori said she believes that the ERA, if ratified, would give constitutional rights to what she called “a group of people who didn’t exist in the 1970s,” transgender people. 

The amendment bans sex-based discrimination; however, it does not specify what sex is. According to the National Institutes of Health, sex refers to the biological differences between females and males, while gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of gender. Del. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, a co-patron of HJ1, said people think LGBTQ people are “subverting social norms” when it comes to gender and sex. 

“Discrimination in regards to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression are all inherently discrimination on accounts of sex,” said Roem.

Roem said that discrimination against LGBTQ people justifies ratifying the ERA.

Del. Mark Cole, R-Fredericksburg, believes the ERA will be ratified in 2020. However, Cole said that ratifying the amendment will lead to a series of “costly and divisive lawsuits.” Since the ERA’s last ratification deadline passed in 1982, the amendment is considered expired, according to Cole. He also notes that five states rescinded their ratifications. 

“Regardless of who wins these lawsuits, a large portion of the country will consider the Constitution to be tainted,” Cole said in a statement on his website posted in January. “Either with an amendment that is not valid or because an amendment that should be included was not.”

During the 2019 General Assembly session, Cole  proposed HJ 692, which would have Congress  re-submit the amendment with “language that addresses the concerns that caused the old ERA to fail,” but it died in committee. ERA Advocates, however, said they believe that the original amendment can still be ratified. Supporters have cited U.S. Supreme Court cases like Coleman v. Miller, where the Supreme Court decided that it’s up to Congress to decide an amendment’s ratification period.

Photo via VA Ratify ERA/Facebook

Generation Ratify wants to remove the ERA’s ratification deadline. In November, the organization wrote to members of Congress to support resolutions which would remove the amendment’s deadline from the ratification process. 

“People of all genders deserve constitutional equality,” said Rosie Couture, Generation Ratify’s executive director. “It is that simple. Period.”

It’s unclear what Congress will do if the ERA is ratified by 38 states or what impact the amendment will have if it makes it into the Constitution, but many state Democrats are determined to approve the amendment. McClellan and other Virginia Democrats said they feel confident that the ERA will pass in the upcoming General Assembly session.

“To do it in the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, I think it is very appropriate,” McClellan said. “While it’s long overdue, I think getting it done in 2020 is a little bit of poetic justice.”

Written by Christopher Brown, Capital News Service.

Governor Calls Bipartisan Effort to Clean Coal Ash ‘Historic’

VCU CNS | January 25, 2019

Topics: coal ash, Dominion Energy, environmental safety, General Assembly, Ralph Northam, Scott Surovell, utility bills

Virginians could see an additional $5 charge on their power bills after Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox and a bipartisan group of legislators announced an agreement Thursday to clean up large ponds of toxic coal ash throughout the state.

The $3 billion plan is to remove coal ash — the residue from power plants — from sites near Virginia’s waterways within 15 years. Democratic Sens. Scott Surovell of Fairfax and Amanda Chase of Chesterfield began the team effort to address the problem three years ago. Chase, Surovell and Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, are sponsoring legislation to close the coal ash sites, clean them up and prohibit further construction.

Surovell’s Senate Bill 1533 specifically targets the ponds in Prince William, Chesterfield  Fluvanna counties and the city of Chesapeake. Dominion Energy, which operated the coal-fired power plants responsible for the ash, would pass along the cost of the cleanup to customers. The company would be required to use local labor and resources when practical to remove the material.

Chase has filed two bills — SB 1009 and SB 1743 — prohibiting coal ash ponds in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and requiring the closure of existing ponds. She said she is excited to work with her colleagues to solve this problem.

“Clean water is a bipartisan issue,” Chase said. “If you think of the cost of cancer and compare it to $5 a month, that’s nothing.”

If the legislation becomes law, that amount would begin appearing on Dominion customers’ bills starting in 2021.

Virginia has been storing coal ash in ponds since the 1930s. Dominion Energy’s website states that it has 11 coal ash ponds and six coal ash landfills totaling about 27 million cubic yards of coal ash statewide. The plan requires the power company to recycle a minimum of 7 million tons by the 15-year mark.

In a statement, Dominion Energy representative Dan Genest said the company “supports the comprehensive agreement reached by the Governor, legislative leaders, and members of the General Assembly that accomplishes clean closure, minimizes truck traffic, and prudently manages customer costs for the closing of ash ponds at our power stations.”

Northam described the bipartisan agreement as historic and said the plan is a breakthrough in protecting the people and environment of Virginia.

“Our effort will ensure we are disposing of coal ash in the safest, most environmentally responsible way. As they exist now, we run the risk that they could contaminate the drinking water supply, our tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay,” the governor said. “I think the environmental impact far outweighs those costs.”

Northam said 25 percent of the coal ash must be recycled into concrete, asphalt, or other construction materials. Coal ash that isn’t recycled would be moved to landfills certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or into modern pits at the site of power plants whose lining will prevent contamination.

Democratic Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy lives near the Possum Point Power Station, which has four coal ash ponds, in Prince William County. She said she commends her colleagues, constituents and the power company for compromising on a solution.

“Coal ash is something that’s very personal to me, having Dominion’s coal ash pond in my backyard,” Foy said. “Arsenic, lead and mercury needed to be removed from the community so it would not disturb and have poison in our playgrounds and lead in our water.”

The bills addressing the issue have been referred to the Coal Ash Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor.

By Kathleen Shaw, Capital News Service. Photo via CNS

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