Jim Webb and George Allen might be stuck in a tight battle for the Virginia Senate seat, but no such contest existed for a constitutional amendment forbidding same-sex marriage or civil unions.

As the Post is reporting, the amendment — one of eight across the country — was approved by an overwhelming 57 percent of Virginia voters, somewhat proving the power of the commonwealth’s social conservative tendencies. And even though Northern Virginia has tended towards the middle on most political issues (Webb drew his strength from the counties closest to Washington), only Arlington County and Alexandria overwhelmingly voted against the amendment, to the tune of 73-27 and 70-30, respectively. Fairfax County also opposed it, though only with 54 percent, while Loudoun County went 54-45 in favor, Prince William went 61-38, Stafford went 64-35, and Fauquier went 64-36. The Virginia State Board of Elections has the results broken down by precincts, so if you want to know how traditionally your neighbors might view marriage, it’s worth checking out.

So what will this mean? If we heed the doomsday warnings of gay rights advocates, Virginia will soon become a much less fantastic place as its gay residents flee for more tolerant localities (the District, maybe?). Or, worse yet, the legal predictions will come true and this amendment will limit many of the rights unmarried heterosexual couples currently enjoy. Then again, maybe gay Virginians will soon realize that yes, they can change their immoral ways. Either way, the amendment seems to be the frosting on an anti-gay cake that Virginia legislators have long been baking — what with “Traditional Marriage” license plates, we figured a constitutional amendment was bound to come. And now that it has been approved, heterosexual married couples the commonwealth across can sleep soundly knowing that their holy unions are safe.