State's gay workers deserve protection

If you knew the driver of the snowplow that cleared your street two weeks ago was gay, would you shoo him away the next time a winter storm hit Hampton Roads? If your car broke down on the interstate and a state trooper stopped to help, would her sexual orientation be important?

Those questions seem ridiculous to most people. The nation is still grappling with questions about same-sex marriage and gays in the military, but there is broad support for granting workers protections against employment discrimination based on their sexual orientation. A 2008 Gallup poll showed nine out of 10 Americans believe gays deserve equal rights for job opportunities. A Virginia poll that same year produced identical results.

Those polls have translated into tangible improvements in working conditions for countless people. Most Fortune 500 companies ban discrimination against gays. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, adopted its anti-discrimination policy in 2003. Thirty states have adopted protections for public workers. Salt Lake City, the epicenter of conservative America, passed an anti-discrimination ordinance last year with the support of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The state workers who plow Virginia's roads, investigate consumer fraud complaints and monitor rivers for pollution aren't able to share in that progress. Since the 1970s, Virginia governors have issued executive orders barring discrimination in the state work force based on race, gender, disability or religion. Govs. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine extended those protections to gay employees. Gov. Bob McDonnell signed an executive order last week but did not include sexual orientation, saying that decision is up to the legislature.

After coming to work each day for eight years knowing that they were guaranteed equal treatment in hiring and promotion decisions, gay state workers are now left to wonder and worry about their careers.

The state Senate did its part to rectify that wrong on Monday when members approved a bill that would formally ban bias based on sexual orientation in the state work force.

Only one Republican senator supported the measure. "It's just a matter of fairness," said Suffolk's Fred Quayle. "I don't think most people do discriminate, and I don't know why anyone would hesitate to say that." Quayle is a quiet, unpretentious lawmaker who works diligently to represent all of his constituents. He understands this is an issue of fundamental decency. Sadly, that insight is in short supply in the House of Delegates, which killed a similar measure Tuesday.

McDonnell says he and his Cabinet secretaries have prohibited any form of discrimination within their own staffs, but when asked to take a formal position affecting all state workers, he parses legal opinions and dips and bows to the legislature.

That is not good enough.

McDonnell should publicly and unequivocally ask House leaders to pass this legislation. If they refuse, McDonnell should sign the same executive order penned by his predecessors.

McDonnell is no longer one of 100 delegates waiting for instructions from their leaders. He is the governor - the person with the state's loudest megaphone and the face of its conscience. State workers are waiting for reassurance from their chief executive. They deserve no less.