Removal of Non-Discriminatory Policy of LGBT in Virginia

[milksmyhero]

All state schools within the Commonwealth of Virginia have been called to remove "sexual orientation" from their non-discrimination policies - in order to be in accordance with state law. I first heard about it from a school-wide e-mail from the president of my university. In a nutshell, such action will allow state universities in Virginia to turn down enrollment/employment/etc. of prospective students/employees simply because of their LGBT status without facing legal charges. This is just one of the many implications that the change would bring about.

My university is one of the state universities in Virginia that has "sexual orientation" as one its protected classes (apparently against state law) and now it's actively being asked to remove it.

Several university-sponsored forums put together by the school's LGBT subcommittee are being set up tomorrow in order to give students/faculty the chance to talk about it.

I don't believe this!!

For those who aren't from Virginia, this comes after a couple of months of Republican Bob McDonnell being sworn in as the Governor of Virginia replacing Democrat Tim Kaine.

Here are some articles about this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pam-spaul ... 88395.html
http://rawstory.com/2010/03/virginia-or ... ting-gays/

[butterbridge]

....whaaaaa??
That's horrible ><

[ElectricKoolaid]

What? This makes no sense. How could anybody possibly benefit from this? Urghh. Is there anyone that non-Virginians can write a verbal fist-shaking to? This BS makes me angry enough to write a letter. I am hardcore.

[Nomenclature]

And in related news: Virginia is now seeking to re-legalize slavery.

[milksmyhero]

I went to some of the forums today. There were hundreds of faculty, staff and students - ranging from basketball athletes under scholarship to surgeons over at the medical campus. A lot of them spoke up. While all of us already knew this, implications of such changes (if school officials buckle under state recommendations) would be dramatic. Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Social Work risk losing accreditation from national agencies if the change was made. Complaints of work or academic harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity would no longer offer any clout. University employees who feel that they were fired because of them being LGBT wouldn't be able to offer that as a reason for defense. Admissions could be affected with students - either by personal choice or otherwise - no longer wanting to attend the university. Same thing for school employees. The University Provost mentioned that there have been incidents in the past - even with the non-discrimination policy in effect - where students and employees have opted out of the university because of inhospitable environments (something that's surprising to hear since my university has an extremely diverse/inclusive atmosphere).

Many people were even wondering why there was even a discussion about it. Such things should be pretty straight-forward. In fact many were calling for a more aggressive response of the university towards the Attorney General - something short of "f-ck you"

It's very disturbing. There's actually a rally being put together tomorrow in the student commons to speak out against it.

I'll try to report more about how it progresses.

[iheartgaymes]

To all of those who don't know/aren't from Virginia, McDonnell within the first few months in office issued an executive order with regards to nondiscrimination policies. It included the usually categories of race, gender, etc. Unlike his predecessors Kaine & Warner, McDonnell purposefully removed sexual orientation and gender identity from the list of protected categories, stating that he did not believe gays deserved "special rights." How not getting fired solely because your gay is a "special right" is beyond me. And remember (well if you're from Virginia anyways) that McDonnell is the one who wrote in his thesis while at Regent University (the one founded by Pat Robertson) about how "homosexuals, fornicators, and cohabitators" were ruining the family dynamic in the US and that fiscal/tax policies should be implemented to discourage their activity. Needless to say this man is not very gay friendly.

Recently McDonnell issued Executive Directive 1, which stated that his administration would not discriminate against state employees based on sexual orientation. Although this seems like a victory, it's really not much of one. First of all, the directive didn't include gender identity which the nondiscrimination executive orders of Tim Kaine and Mark Warner had. Secondly, unlike an executive order, an executive directive does not have the power of law behind it. In other words, an executive directive is more like a suggestion really than anything else. Thus someone could be fired simply for being gay without any real repercussions.

McDonnell's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is being an even bigger douche (there really is no other word more fitting to describe him). Cuccinelli argument is not entirely incomprehensible, albeit with some incredibly flawed lawed. Let's pretend for a second that Cuccinelli is completely unaware of the Equal Protection Clause in the Constitution. He still chose to make this a major issue. He made a very conscious decision to bring it up, just as previous Attorneys General have made equally as conscious decisions not to bring it up. Also not included as an official protected category in Virginia law: veteran and parental status. These are included in the nondiscrimination policies of UVa, VCU, and other state universities. Funny how Cuccinelli makes no mention of the illegality of including these. Why Cuccinelli is a super, ultra megadouche, though, is that at least McDonnell attempted to remedy the situation (even if it was only a half-hearted attempt to pander to those in the middle and to not dash his national aspirations). Cuccinelli, on the other hand, has repeatedly stated that he still stands for his position that the inclusion of sexual orientation in state schools' non discrimination policies violates Virginia Law.