Virginia's Attorney General Bob McDonnell today restated his views that the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage will not undermine the legal and civil rights of unmarrried Virginians.

"I can find no legal basis for the proposition that passage of the marriage amendment will limit or infringe upon the ordinary civil legal rights of unmarried Virginias," McDonnell wrote in a 13-page opinion, released this morning. "It is my hope that this opinion will settle the uncertainty about the legal ramifications of passage of the amendment and permit the debate to be on the important issue of what form marriage should take in the Commonwealth of Virginia."

The proposed amendment, which will be on the Nov. 7 ballot, has the support of a majority of registered voters, according to statewide survey last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. But the gap between supporters and opponents decreased from 18 points in a July Mason-Dixon poll to 14 ponts in the new survey.