The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
Virginia's failure to protect gays and lesbians against discrimination has become a national embarrassment and could hinder the state's economic development, several lawmakers charged Tuesday on the floor of the House of Delegates.
The dissenting delegates, all Democrats, unsuccessfully attempted a rare legislative maneuver to revive a bill prohibiting discrimination in public employment on the basis of sexual orientation.
Sen. Donald McEachin's bill, SB66, passed the Democrat-led Senate 23-17 but was killed last week by an eight-member subcommittee in the Republican-controlled House. McEachin is a Richmond Democrat.
Declaring "The eyes of the nation are upon us," Del. Ken Plum of Fairfax County tried to discharge the committee and bring the bill to the floor for a vote by the full House. The tactic failed on a 55-42 vote.
Lending urgency to the move, the Democrats said, was Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's recent letter to state universities telling them their policies barring discrimination against gays and lesbians are not authorized by state law and must be rescinded.
"Ken Cuccinelli wants to hang a sign in front of the public colleges and universities of this commonwealth that reads 'Gays need not apply,' " said Del. David Englin of Alexandria.
Englin warned that companies such as military contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., which is considering moving its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Virginia, might be deterred by the state's stance on the issue.
Many companies have adopted nondiscrimination policies, Plum said: "It really is going to hurt us as a state in the nation if we have policies of the past."
Accusing Cuccinelli of "outrageous and ideological zealotry," Del. Adam Ebbin of Arlington County said state universities' accreditations could be put at risk if they followed the attorney general's advice.
With the Assembly scheduled to adjourn Saturday, Ebbin and Plum said the only chance of enacting a nondiscrimination policy now would be for Gov. Bob McDonnell to introduce a bill. That appears unlikely. Unlike his two Democratic predecessors, McDonnell has declined to proclaim a policy of nondiscrimination against gays by executive order.
McDonnell and Cuccinelli are both Republicans.
Tucker Martin, a McDonnell spokesman, noted that the Assembly has already considered the issue and said the legislature's time in the waning days of the session would be better spent enacting a budget on time. He said the governor will make sure "all state managers and agency heads know that discrimination will not be tolerated anywhere in state government."
The vote on Plum's motion went generally along party lines, with a few exceptions. Six Republicans, including Dels. Bob Tata and Ron
Villanueva of Virginia Beach, voted to bring the McEachin bill to the floor. Three Democrats, including Del. Johnny Joannou of Portsmouth, voted no.
The only defense of the state's current policy on the House floor came from Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William County, who said McEachin's bill seeks to protect "behavior that many find against traditional morals."
Bill Sizemore, (804) 697-1560, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com
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Pro Jobs Governor?
I have listed on a couple of stories three corporate policies of major defense contractors. It isn't hard just go to their websites and search discrimination policy. So Governor, you want 21st century jobs you need a 21st century workforce --- or do you Republicans long for the plantation days again? Anyway here's what Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and SAIC have to say about the issue:
Northrop Grumman provides equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants without regard to ethnicity, race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, parental status, ancestry, disability, gender identity, veteran status, genetic information or any other protected status.
Before we go off the deep end and return to gay bashing days of yore perhaps we can continue our march into the 21st century.
Pro Jobs Governor continued
Here's Lockheed Martin's policy: to ensure equal employment opportunities without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, United States military veteran's status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family structure, or mental or physical disability; so long as the essential functions of the job can be performed with or without reasonable accommodation.
SAIC will ensure that all employment-related decisions are based solely upon job-related criteria and the qualifications of the individual without regard to race, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, medical condition, disability, military service status, or any other basis prohibited by law.
Now it is also pretty likely that Dont Ask Dont Tell will soon be repealed so perhaps Virginia's policies and laws ought to equate with their major employers???? Just a thought!
discrimination
for thousands of years, slavery was acceptable. For the longest time discrimination based on race was acceptable and legalized. Proponents of both can, and have cited scripture as appropriate rationalization for such behavior. This however has two problems. First A, separation of church and state. Yes, the bible may consider homosexuality a sin, however it is not the governments job to create "anti-sin" laws. Now, if it is the states job, lets just create laws for them all. Hate is sin, coveting is sin, and as Jesus said, let he who is without sin throw the first stone. In short, those who are using the argument is sinful, therefore we should discriminate against a group of people should start proposing laws for all the sins they commit too.
Second, the argument that it has been this way for thousands of years does not cut it. For thousands of years, slavery was acceptable. For the longest time people believed everything revolved around the earth, the point being that. Just because people have believed it for a long time does not make it correct or acceptable.
Chistians had no problems
Chistians had no problems for the most part with slavery until it no longer was economically profitable to maintain the practice (except in the American South, where slavery actually became much more profitable after Eli Whitney's invention). Slavery became a lessa attractive business model, and the banks found it more practical to capitalize industrialization, the new thing.
Christians defended slavery, and then segregation, by appealing to the curse of Ham in Genesis (chapter 9, I think).
And now many Christians today defend their own bigotry by appealing to Genesis (Sodom and Gomorrah) and to the apostle Paul (who often was/is cited by the same Christians to oppose equal treatment of women.
"Hate Group Harms Our
"Hate Group Harms Our State
Submitted by A Markowitz on Wed, 03/10/2010 at 8:07 am.
Sadly, the Republican party is more and more becoming a hate group on a par with the aryan nations and the kkk."
The KKK was created by DEMOCRATS who sought to take back power from the Republican party 1865 with the advent of blacks elected to Congress and the Senate.
The problem with over simplifications.
They're wrong. Do some more reading on the origins of the KKK.
BTW, Southern democrats transmuted into Republicans in 1965.
Pay Attention
True enough and the reason old Dixiecrats became Republicans en masse was due to the Democratic support for civil rights and and end to segregation. Hate, once again. Besides, I never said the Republican Party was part of the KKK, only that has become a hate group like the KKK and Aryan nations because it panders to and attracts those folks, ie, the "Republican Base." If that's you, why deny it unless you're ashamed of who you are.
If it is/was such a big deal
If it is/was such a big deal to the Liberal Democrats to get this law passed, why wait until now when there is a strong upstanding conservative in the Govenors office? Why didd'nt they make it law when they very easily could have???? ASK yourselves THAT question... Its not something they really care about, they are just trying to make another political party look bad because they (Dems) are falling to broken pieces on the ground. Where were all of you when Timmy or Mark didd'nt pass a law for this???? why is it suddenly so important now and it wasnt 3 months ago? Go ahead and thumb me down because in this case, for all you Liberals, the truth really does hurt.
just as an F.Y.I.
Timmy and Mark issued executive orders during their terms that banned discrimination in state government hiring practices, Govenor McDonnell hasn't reissued the order but says Kaine's is STILL IN EFFECT! He just wants to study whether the orders are legal. Relax people, he is not say discrimination is OK, he just wants to make sure the he does things lawfully. Perhaps the dumb and dumber could have done that in the first placed and made it a law not an executive order... Go ahead and thumb me down again for pointing out that pesky hurtfull truth.
I still think the quickest
I still think the quickest way to resolve this is for a gay business owner to discriminate against straight workers or applicants strictly on the basis of sexual orientation. Just picture the furor over a waitress or store clerk getting fired or not getting the job just because their straight, and hey, the owner doesn't like straight people and is willing to say it. Advertise "GLBT applicants only." The great thing about legal precedents is that they work both ways on issues like this.