In a party line vote, the Republican majority House of Delegates voted 71-28 to pass the legislation, while a State Senate committee endorsed its version of the Republican-backed measure also on a 8-7 party-line vote.

Republican Governor Bob McDonnell is expected to sign the measure into law as soon as it crosses his desk.

Sponsors and supporters are claiming that the law will protect religious freedom. Critics charge that the state's government, which contracts with dozens of private, state-licensed child placement agencies, in the commonwealth, is now in a position to sanction discrimination.

Opponents also argued that since the state is allowing this exemption then state funding should be eliminated.

The new rules run headlong into voter opinion -- fifty-five percent of Virginia adults believe it should be legal for gay parents to adopt.

Nearly six thousand Virginia children live in foster homes.

In a 8-7 vote, the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee rejected Alexandria, Va. Democratic Sen. Adam Ebbin’s bill -- S.B. 263,

The legislation had garnered the support of Virginia's labor unions, educator and public-employee associations, and the AARP, senior citizen's lobby group.

Members of anti-gay groups Family Foundation and the Virginia Association of Independent Baptists testified that the bill was unnecessary because there is no proof that gays are discriminated against.

A similar piece of legislation was passed by the state's Senate last year -- then led by a Democratic majority, only to be defeated in the Republican-led House of Delegates.

Republicans gained control of the Senate in the November 2011 election.

Virginia’s Board of Social Services on Wednesday approved final regulations on adoption that, starting in the spring, will effectively allow state-licensed private agencies to deny the adoption of a child by same-sex couples.

The regulations also will allow the adoption agencies to deny services to prospective parents on the basis of age, gender, disability, religion, political belief and family status.

The regulations, however, will prohibit discrimination based on race, color or national origin.

Let’s be absolutely clear what this means. This means that a loving and generous potential parent could be denied the ability to adopt because they are gay. Or because they are Jewish. Or because they are a woman. Or because they are divorced. Or because they are in a wheelchair.

Moreover, these new rules run headlong into voter opinion and scientific research. Fifty-five percent of Virginia adults believe it should be legal for gay parents to adopt, and there is no scientific basis whatsoever for the claim that heterosexuals are superior parents.

Meanwhile, nearly six thousand Virginia children live in foster homes. All of them would have a better, more stable childhood — not to mention one that would better prepare them to succeed in adulthood — if they were placed in a permanent home with a loving, stable and financially secure family.

It is baffling why a state would deny these children a fair shot at life just because the family that wants to adopt them doesn’t look like some narrow-minded notion of what a family should look like.

Adam Ebbin

“I am honored by the trust the voters have showed in me,” Ebbin said in a statement.

“During the campaign, I listened to the voters’ concerns and will work on behalf of the values we all share: improving our public schools, expanding our transit system and cleaning up Virginia’s environment. I will make sure their voices are heard.”

Ebbin was elected to the House of Delegates in 2003. He was endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

“We’re thrilled for Adam and for LGBT Virginians, who will finally have an authentic LGBT voice in the state senate,” said Chuck Wolfe, Victory Fund’s president.

“The Victory Fund has been proud to support Adam throughout his career. He’s been a persistent champion for fairness and equality, and we congratulate him."

Prince William County delegate Robert Marshall, a conservative Republican member of the Virginia State General Assembly, sent a letter to the bank, warning that its display of the rainbow pride flag is a class six felony.

According to Marshall, the homosexual behavior “celebrated” by the bank flying a gay pride flag “undermines the American economy” and is a class six felony in Virginia.

Marshall was referring to the state's "Crimes Against Nature" statue which reads in part:

§ 18.2-361. Crimes against nature; penalty.
A. If any person carnally knows in any manner any brute animal, or carnally knows any male or female person by the anus or by or with the mouth, or voluntarily submits to such carnal knowledge, he or she shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony, except as provided in subsection B.

"The Richmond Fed’s endorsement of costly, anti-social, immoral behavior is rejected by 6,000 years of Western Religious and moral teaching,” wrote Marshall, reported the The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The flag is being flown at the request of PRISM, a Richmond Federal Reserve employee group representing LGBT employees and allies.

“We are flying the pride flag as an example of our commitment to the values of acceptance and inclusion," said Sally Green, the bank’s first vice president and chief operating officer.

The action comes following a warning by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia back in April, advising the suburban Washington D.C. school district, to stop censoring websites that advocate LGBT rights, while at the same time allowing access to anti-gay websites that promote reparative therapy.

In a Prince William Public Schools news release, Keith Imon, the associate superintendent for communications and technology services, said that the school system was able to remove the filters and still keep students safe from other content.

“Internet filtering is difficult, sometimes imprecise, and constantly evolving. It is nearly impossible to find the perfect balance between the protection of students, freedom of speech, and equal access,” Imon said in the release. “However, the decision to discontinue the use of the LGBT filter is within this balance.”

According to the ACLU, the school district blocked students from accessing most LGBT websites, including: GSA Network, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Network (GLSEN), Day Of Silence, and the It Gets Better Project among others.

However, the school system permitted access to several anti-LGBT websites, including: People Can Change, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), Exodus International, and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays.

Forty-seven percent of Virginians say gay couples should be allowed to legally wed, and 43 percent are opposed, according to the poll.

The results mirror a dramatic and rapid shift in national public opinion about gay rights in recent years. The evolving public opinion could create a challenge in the key political battleground for the commonwealth’s Republicans, who are almost universally opposed to gay marriage, if voters think the GOP is falling out of sync with the electorate.

But the results also present complications for Virginia Democrats, who have moved more slowly than their national counterparts to embrace liberal social stands for fear of alienating independent voters.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) said Tuesday that "the people of Virginia have spoken," referring to the constitutional amendment passed in 2006.

“They’ve already enshrined in the Virginia Constitution that gay marriage is not permitted, so unless there is another effort to change the Constitution, that matter is settled. [...] That’s something that I support. That was the right decision,” he said.

Fifty-five percent of Virginians said gay couples should be able to legally adopt children, the Post reported.

Ken Cuccinelli

Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, has fired the Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding for backing out of its contract with the U.S. House to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court.

Cuccinelli, who has previously publicly stated his opposition to "special rights for homosexuals," notified King & Spalding in a letter to Joseph Lynch at the firm's Washington D.C. office, citing its "weakness" as the basis for severing the relationship.

"King & Spalding's willingness to drop a client, the U.S. House of Representatives, in connection with the lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was such an obsequious act of weakness that I feel compelled to end your legal association with Virginia so that there is no chance that one of my legal clients will be put in the embarrassing and difficult situation like the client you walked away from, the House of Representatives."

Cuccinelli added that "Virginia seeks firms of commitment, courage, strength and toughness, and unfortunately, what the world has learned of King & Spalding, is that your firm utterly lacks such qualities."

King & Spalding Chairman Robert D. Hays, Jr., announced Monday that the firm was withdrawing its representation of the U.S. House to defend DOMA, and said the process used for "vetting the engagement was inadequate."

Lisa Miller (left) and Janet Jenkins

According to court documents, the FBI arrested Timothy David Miller in Alexandria, Virginia, on charges that he aided in the international parental kidnapping of Isabella Miller-Jenkins by one of her two mothers, Lisa Miller.

The FBI statement says Lisa Miller took her child to Mexico in September 2009 “with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights by Janet Jenkins,” her former civil union partner. The statement says Timothy Miller provided assistance with Lisa Miller’s travel from the U.S. to Toronto and then to Mexico City, and provided shelter for her. The Millers then continued on to Managua, Nicaragua, later that month.

A warrant for Lisa Miller’s arrest was issued in April 2010.

Sarah Star, a Vermont attorney representing Jenkins, said Friday that, despite Timothy Miller’s arrest, “We still don’t know where they are now.”

Jenkins issued a statement saying she hopes “Isabella is safe and well” and that she is looking forward to “having my daughter home safe with me very soon.”

But Star said she was not sure what measures might be available to law enforcement officials to attempt to locate and extradite Lisa Miller back to the United States.

The FBI indicated it has not established whether Lisa Miller is related to Timothy Miller. Timothy Miller reportedly lived in Crossville, Tennessee, and has a wife and four children. But evidence suggests he and the family were living in Nicaragua in November 2008. The Rutland Herald, a Vermont daily newspaper, said Timothy Miller worked as missionary in Nicaragua.

According to one FBI affidavit, the “Lynchburg Christian Academy Payroll Account” provided “multiple payroll checks to Lisa Miller. The Academy is an affiliate of the late Jerry Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church.

The FBI documents indicate agents believe Lisa Miller was going by the name Sarah, and that her daughter was being referred to as Lydia.

A Vermont judge transferred full custody of the daughter to Jenkins in November 2009, after Lisa Miller failed to comply with a court order that she allow Jenkins visitation with the child.

The Miller-Jenkins case took on national prominence after Lisa Miller moved from Vermont to Virginia in an effort to use Virginia’s newly enacted law banning recognition of same-sex relationships as leverage in her battle to prevent Jenkins from having visitation. But Virginia courts, including the state supreme court, ruled that the federal kidnapping law trumps Virginia’s “Marriage Affirmation Act” and the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

In 2003, Lisa Miller renounced homosexuality and became an evangelical Christian. Isabella Miller turned 9 this month.

The proposed regulations would have prohibited adoption agencies from discriminating against prospective parents because they're gay.

The Washington Post reports:

In a 7-2 vote Wednesday afternoon, the board opted against the new rules, first proposed by former governor Tim Kaine. In Virginia, only married couples and single men and women, regardless of sexual orientation, can adopt. The proposed changes would require private and faith-based groups, such as Catholic Charities and Jewish Family Services, to allow gay parents to adopt or foster children.

Some members of the board, including Democratic appointees who make up the 5-4 majority, had told The Washington Post on Tuesday they would be guided by advice from Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II.

In a memo sent to the agency last week, Cuccinelli’s office said that the proposed changes did not comply with "applicable state law and public policy."

In December 2009, then Attorney General Bill Mims, a former Republican legislator and now a state Supreme Court justice, advised that the state board had the authority to repeal the existing regulations.

Ken Cuccinelli

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has advised the State Board of Social Services it does not have the authority to change regulations that would permit gay couples to adopt.

In a memo sent to the agency this week, Cuccinelli’s office said that proposed rules that would require private and faith-based groups, such as Catholic Charities and Jewish Family Services, to allow gay parents to adopt children “does not comport with applicable state law and public policy,” according to the Washington Post.

"The State Board lacks the authority to adopt this proposed language," wrote Allen Wilson, senior assistant attorney general to the Virginia Department of Social Services.

Currently, only married couples and single men and women -- regardless of sexual orientation -- can adopt in Virginia. But, gay singles and unmarried couples do not have access to adoption agencies run by religious groups.

The proposal would mandate that gay singles and unmarried couples be able to access faith-based groups to adopt children.

In December 2009, the attorney general’s office, then headed by Bill Mims, a former Republican legislator and now a state Supreme Court justice, advised that the state board had the authority to repeal the existing regulation and put into place the new one.

Cuccinelli’s office is now revising and amending that advice.

The proposal that would change regulations will be considered by the board as early as next week.

Gov. Robert McDonnell has repeatedly said that he opposes the regulations because, he believes, faith-based organizations should be able to make their own policies.

According to ACLU-Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg, the school district uses Blue Coat filter software, which is manually configured, and which currently blocks Prince William County students from accessing most LGBT websites, including: GSA Network, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Network (GLSEN), Day Of Silence, and the It Gets Better Project among others.

However, the school system permits access to several anti-LGBT websites, including: People Can Change, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), Exodus International, and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays -- which is currently undertaking concerted efforts this week to counter the national Day Of Silence on Friday, by asking students to distribute ex-gay literature to their friends in support of equality for the ex-gay community.

A spokesman for Dr. Steven L. Walts, the superintendent, refused to comment other than to acknowledge that the county uses the filter software to comply with a federal mandate under the Children's Internet Protection Act or CIPA, and that officials would be reviewing the ACLU's claims.

In a letter, the ACLU warned school administrators that the Blue Coat software, as currently configured under the school's acceptable use policy, violates both the First Amendment rights of the students, and federal equal access statues.

Copy of the ACLU's letter is here (PDF).

Glenberg warned school officials that blocking access to websites that express acceptance and promote tolerance, while allowing sites that urge LGBT persons to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through means of reparative therapy, was unconstitutional.

In a footnote, Glenberg wrote that "reparative therapy" is a practice denounced as dangerous and harmful to young people by professional groups such as the American Psychological Association and its counter part the American Psychiatric Association as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Glenberg advised Walts to disable Blue Coat's LGBT filter before April 25 or face a lawsuit by the ACLU.

Ken Blackstone, Prince William County Public Schools Communications Director told WJLA-TV that the schools have "employed the filtering software for a number of years," and did confirm that the schools do currently engage the blanket filter of all things "LGBT."

Meanwhile, a New Jersey school board has agreed to discontinue blocking LGBT websites on high school and middle school computers, after two Vineland High School students complained to the ACLU that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and GLSEN websites were being blocked by their filtering software.

Robert McDonnell

Virginia's Gov. Robert McDonnell is considering whether to undo regulations that would allow gay couples to adopt children in Virginia through any state-licensed agency, private or religious.

Currently, only married couples and single men and women -- regardless of sexual orientation -- can adopt in Virginia. But, gay singles and unmarried couples do not have access to adoption agencies run by religious groups.

The Washington Post reports:

The proposal, according to the governor’s office, would mandate that gay singles and unmarried couples be able to access faith-based groups, such as Catholic Charities and Jewish Family Services, to adopt children.

“I don’t think we ought to force Catholic Charities to make that part of their policy or other similar situated groups,’’ McDonnell said.

“Many of our adoption agencies are faith-based groups that ought to be able to establish what their own policies are. Current regulations that say you can’t discriminate on the basis of race, color or national origin I think are proper. I think previous efforts to expand that to a number of other classes are going to have very strict scrutiny to make sure that we don’t inhibit the very fine work some faith-based organizations are doing.”

The change in regulations were set in motion by former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine in November 2009.

McDonnell, a Republican, has until April 16 to make his recommendation to the State Board of Social Services, a nine-member panel in which all but four members are holdovers from Kaine's administration.

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.

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) indicated Monday that he might sign legislation extending legal protections on the basis of sexual orientation if it were to pass the General Assembly.

"I'd consider it," he said. "I'd have to look at the legal arguments for it."

But the GOP-led House of Delegates has declined twice this year to act on similar proposals.

Plum

On Tuesday, a Northern Virginia delegate unsuccessfully tried a parliamentary maneuver to force a floor vote on a measure that would ban discrimination in public employment on the basis of sexual orientation.

Del. Ken Plum (D), moved to revive the gay-rights bill that had languished in a House subcommittee, saying the legislature must respond to Cuccinelli's recent missive.

The House voted against floor consideration of the bill 55 to 42.

Read Cuccinelli's letter here (pdf).

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.

Cuccinelli (R), who took office in January, said the General Assembly has defined protected classes on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, age, marital status or disability, but “on numerous occasions considered and rejected creating a protected class on the basis of sexual orientation."

Last month, just two weeks after taking office, Republican governor Bob McDonnell quietly signed an executive order to prohibit discrimination “on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities.”

McDonnell's order effectively rescinded an earlier order by his predecessor, Democrat Tim Kaine, signed Jan. 14, 2006, that included sexual orientation in the state's non-discrimination policy.