I often berate Southwest Virginia and rural areas of the Commonwealth which are struggling economically yet which through their embrace of bigotry and homophobia make themselves toxic to many new and progressive businesses. Hate and bigotry do carry a price even if the "godly folk" and those who prostitute themselves too them - typically Republican elected officials - close their eyes to reality. Thus, it was pleasant surprise to see the editorial board of the Staunton News Leader come out advocating for the protection of LGBT rights under Virginia law. Currently, there are no legal protections. Here are excerpts from the editorial:
It’s time for the Commonwealth of Virginia to protect all citizens, including those who identify as gay, bisexual or transgender, from workplace and housing discrimination.
Currently, Virginia’s coveted right-to-work status means employees can be fired for almost any reason at any time — because they wear a red tie just as easily as for their same-sex relationship. The only grounds off limits are those of gender, age and ethnicity.
It’s well past time to provide the same workplace protections against discrimination to the LGBT community that have been previously assured to everyone based on age, gender and ethnicity.
It appears to be a simple concept. The fact that you may be gay or transgender has no relevance to whether you can perform your job. Employers should not be able to base hiring or termination decisions based on sexual orientation. It’s just wrong. On his first day in office, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed an order prohibiting discrimination against state employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Yet, our legislature has yet to extend these basic legal protections to LGBT workers in the private sector.
Let's be clear, LGBT Virginians have rights, and what we are demanding is for our government to affirm those rights and protect our citizens.
In order to make that happen, delegates and senators should begin by practicing this non-discrimination in their own offices. During the past legislative session, Equality Virginia asked state delegates and senators to sign a statement vowing not to discriminate against employees because of sexual orientation or gender identity in their own legislative offices. Of the 40 Virginia State Senators, 21 signed the statement. Our local Sen. Emmett Hanger was not among those listed as a signee of the statement. Of the 100 delegates for the state, 33 signed the statement. Delegates Dickie Bell, Ben Cline and Steve Landes did not.
Hiring, firing or determining promotions by gender or ethnicity was always wrong and was finally outlawed decades ago. Now's make certain our laws contain similar protections for other groups that are too often discriminated against but who deserve equal protection under the law.
To my knowledge, no Republicans signed the non-discrimination statement. To do so would have outraged the hate merchants at The Family Foundation, Virginia's leading hate group, which is the puppet master of the Virginia Republican Party.
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