That the 216th General Assembly (2004) affirm the following statement and request the Office of the General Assembly to communicate this action to all middle and lower governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church (USA), as well as to the president of the United States of America and to all members of the Congress of the United States of America. The 216th General Assembly (2004) does the following:

• Offers prayerful thanks for the Scriptures informing us that all persons are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27).

• Affirms the PCUSA historic definition of the meaning of marriage as a civil contract between a woman and a man' (W-4.9001, as quoted in a resolution of the 208th General Assembly (1996), Minutes, 1996, Part 1, p. 122)

• Declares that all persons are entitled to equal treatment under the law (Constitution of the United States of America); therefore

• Urges state legislations to change state laws to include the right of same-gender persons to civil union and, thereby, to extend to them all the benefits, privileges, and responsibilities of civil union, and urges all persons to support such changes in state laws.

• Urges the Congress of the United States of America to recognize those state laws that allow same-gender union and to change federal laws to recognize all civil unions licensed and solemnized under state law to apply in all federal laws that provide benefits, privileges, and/or responsibilities to married persons.

That the 216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) urge the legislature and the people of Virginia to reconsider the recently passed law that will end all contractual rights between same-sex partners, and to direct the stated clerk to communicate to the appropriate officials in the Commonwealth of Virginia the church's support of equal access to civil rights to all.