Fairness, jobs threatened by stance on gays

The men and women who work in Gov. Bob McDonnell's executive office don't have to worry about whether they'll be passed over for promotions or fired because they are gay.

McDonnell has adopted an equal opportunity policy that prohibits "discrimination for any reason." It doesn't actually say gay workers are included in those protections, but everyone knows that's what the governor means because he said so. However, the policy covers only about 30 people. An equal number are included through similar versions implemented by Cabinet secretaries.

But those policies don't cover the vast majority of Virginia's 103,000 state employees. They don't prevent a forensic lab technician from being rejected if she asks about domestic partnership benefits during a job interview. They don't protect a museum employee from being assigned menial tasks because of his sexual orientation.

McDonnell refused to sign an executive order guaranteeing workplace protections to gay state employees. He would undoubtedly feel bad if workers were mistreated, but he doesn't think that's really any of his business.

His passive posture on job discrimination would be troubling enough if he were leaving the fate of state workers in the hands of hundreds of individual agency heads. But it's an embarrassment for McDonnell to look on helplessly as Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli bullies colleges and universities that have retained workplace protections in place for at least eight years.

Cuccinelli penned a letter last week to public university leaders ordering them to rewrite non-discrimination policies and to erase any specific protections extended to gay workers. The letter is merely an advisory opinion with no legal weight, but it leaves college officials in a predicament as long as McDonnell refuses to publicly renounce Cuccinelli's belligerence.

This is not only an issue of fairness; it's also relevant to McDonnell's core mission of job creation.

Universities often are important players in economic development packages. James Guyette, president and chief executive officer of Rolls-Royce North America Inc., cited a research partnership with the University of Virginia as a key reason his company selected Prince George County over locations in seven other states for an aircraft engine plant three years ago.

If Cuccinelli succeeds in chasing talented academics who happen to be gay out of Virginia, their loss will reverberate beyond any one campus. A Maryland state senator has already seized on Cuccinelli's letter and the commonwealth's attitudes toward gays in efforts to convince Northrop Grumman leaders that they should relocate their headquarters to his state, not Virginia.

McDonnell must decide whether it's more important to pacify his political base or to run an effective state government and attract jobs to Virginia. If a nondiscrimination policy is good for his gubernatorial staff, it should be good for all state workers.

Leadership from the governor on this issue will ultimately be good for all of Virginia.