Antiquated, unconstitutional law held up day care license for nearly a year

Under threat of a lawsuit from the ACLU of Virginia, the Virginia Department of Social Services has reinstated the license of a day care provider accused of violating Virginia's antiquated cohabitation law.
Darlene Davis, who has operated a child care center in Norfolk for more than 30 years, was told last May that her operating license might not be renewed because she lives with a man, Cary Cohen, to whom she is not married. Since then, she has been operating on a provisional license, pending a final decision by Social Services.
The ACLU of Virginia began representing Ms. Davis in June 2001 by sending a letter to the Department of Social Services threatening litigation if the license were not granted. In the letter, ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg wrote that the refusal to renew her license because of Ms. Davis's living arrangement would violate the constitutional rights of privacy and intimate association.
Glenberg also argued that Ms. Davis was technically not in violation of the Virginia cohabitation statute. That law, believed to date to the nineteenth century, does not make all cohabitation illegal, only cohabitation that is "lewd and lascivious."
Last month, upon hearing that the license may be granted, the ACLU agreed to hold off litigation until March 18.
Ms. Davis and Mr. Cohen have lived together for the past 16 years. In previous applications for renewal of the day care license, Ms. Davis has listed Mr. Cohen as a boarder. In last year's application, he was referred to as a roommate.
Parents of children who attend the Davis Day Care Center unequivocally supported Ms. Davis in her attempt to renew her license. They were aware of Davis and Cohen's living arrangement.
"If Virginia's cohabitation law were applied in this way to everyone who lives together without being married, hundreds of thousands of people would be homeless tomorrow," said ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis. "Rather than using its resources to invade the bedrooms of day care operators, the Department of Social Services should be making certain that all day care facilities function as well as the Davis Day Care Center."

Contacts: Kent Willis or Rebecca Glenberg, ACLU of Virginia, (804) 644-8022 Darlene Davis, (757) 857-5424