Category: Virginia
Virginia students mobilize against AG’s call to dismiss gay protections; Assembly effort fails
Cuccinelli
Students across Virginia put spring break on hold this week to mobilize against Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who has riled student groups with a letter advising public universities to retreat from their policies against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
More than 5,000 people have joined the Facebook page “We Don’t Want Discrimination In Our State Universities And Colleges!” and nearly 1,000 joined another, started by activists at the College of William and Mary.
The University of Virginia group Queer & Allied Activism urged students to protest on Cuccinelli’s Facebook page and on Twitter.
Last week, in a letter to Virginia’s public universities, Cuccinelli said they could not adopt policies that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation “absent specific authorization from the General Assembly.”
All of Virginia’s largest state schools have adopted anti-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation. Continue reading…
Previously from LGBTQ Nation:
Virginia AG seeks to remove LGBT protections from state colleges
Cuccinelli
In the latest move by Virginia’s new, anti-gay Republican leadership, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has urged the state’s colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
In a letter Thursday to the presidents, rectors and boards of visitors of Virginia public colleges, Cuccinelli said that the law and public policy of Virginia “prohibit a college or university from including ‘sexual orientation’, ‘gender identity’, ‘gender expression’ or like classification, as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly.“
Most of the state’s public universities have policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Today they were exploring how to react to Cuccinelli’s letter. Continue reading…
Previously from LGBTQ Nation:
Virginia governor strips ‘sexual orientation’ from state’s non-discrimination policy
McDonnell
Gay state workers in Virginia are no longer protected from discrimination now that the new Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, has stripped sexual orientation from the state’s policy.
McDonnell quietly signed an executive order on February 5 that prohibits discrimination “on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities.”
Like we wouldn’t notice… the new order effectively rescinds the earlier order that previous Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine signed Jan. 14, 2006. Kaine, in promising a “fair and inclusive” administration in his inaugural address, added sexual orientation to the non-discrimination policy as one of his first actions.
The fact that there was already a policy in place, McDonnell’s action can only be seen as to intentionally exclude gays.
Said the HRC: McDonnell’s “message could hardly be clearer: discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is not prohibited.”
Previously from LGBTQ Nation:
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Virginia students mobilize against AG's call to dismiss gay protections; Assembly effort fails
Virginia AG seeks to remove LGBT protections from state colleges
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