Virginia's War on Gay State Employees

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has only been in office a few short months, but already he's declaring a bit of war on the state's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. And he's getting a big helping hand from the state's governor, Bob McDonnell, too.

First came word that McDonnell would not extend an executive order prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for the state work force. That means whether you wash dishes at the governor's mansion, serve as the governor's spokesperson, or run a statewide agency (among the many, many other statewide jobs), you can be fired simply on the basis of your sexual orientation. Hold hands with someone of the same gender, and McDonnell and company may deliver that ultimate Trump-worthy line, "You're fired."

But McDonnell and Cuccinelli didn't stop there. This past Friday, Cuccinelli dropped a bombshell of a statement when he sent a letter to all statewide universities telling them to rescind their anti-discrimination protections for LGBT faculty, staff and students. So not only does this dynamic homophobic duo want to fire gay employees within their own staff, they'd also like to give colleges and universities the right to discriminate against LGBT people, too.

When Virginia voters elected McDonnell and Cuccinelli, many thought they were getting more moderate candidates -- folks who had learned from the mistakes of the GOP past. Not quite. These two seem quite comfortable moving a culture warrior agenda forward, to the point where it might just become the defining platform of both McDonnell's and Cuccinelli's tenure.

We know people disagree on the issue of gay rights, but come on: shouldn't it be illegal everywhere to fire people solely because of their sexual orientation?

John Aloysius Farrell at U.S. News and World Report delivers a sucker punch to both McDonnell and Cuccinelli, calling them out for duping voters into thinking that they wouldn't push hot button social issues as leaders of the Commonwealth.

"When the Republicans in Virginia staged a comeback last fall, they did so by persuading independent voters that the GOP had given up its desire to police our bedrooms, and would focus instead on pragmatic solutions for serious issues, like the dearth of jobs, the cost of education and the surplus of traffic," Farrell writes. "But the paint wasn't dry in the office of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II before he jumped at the chance to indulge in gay-bashing."

And Virginia voters, particularly Virginia students, are outraged. Facebook groups are popping up by the hundreds (one at William & Mary has almost 1,000 alone!), and the University of Virginia LGBT group Queer & Allied Activism has started a campaign to hound McDonnell and Cuccinelli on their Facebook and Twitter pages. As one Virginia Tech student, Brandon Carroll, told the Washington Post, he's worried that Cuccinelli's and McDonnell's overt homophobic policies are "going to make us lose top faculty."

Not to mention top students, top state workers, and top college professional staff. If Virginia moves down this line, they will put themselves in sharp contrast to the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies -- not to mention state colleges and universities around the country -- that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Is that wise?

If you haven't sent a letter to the McDonnell administration, as well as to the Virginia House and Senate, via our Change.org action, do so now. McDonnell and Cuccinelli deserve to be called out on these moves.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons