Jon Bowerbank for Virginia Lieutenant Governor

Last week I did a post on Jody Wagner, one of the candidates for the Democrat nomination for Lieutenant Governor. As part of the post I included Jody's responses to four gay rights related questions and now I have received responses to the same questions from Jon Bowerbank, another of the candidates vying for this nomination (I expect responses from Mike Signer shortly as well). Unlike Jody Wagner who I know personally and Mike Signer who I met at the Equality Virginia gala in Richmond on April 4, 2009, I have never met or spoken with Jon Bowerbank. He seems to have an amazing personal story and has built a very successful business and personal fortune from scratch. He hails from the far southwest of Virginia - something that might hurt his appeal to those in Tidewater and Northern Virginia, two areas where one must do well to win. Jon's campaign website cane be found here. Here are Jon's responses to the questions I posed:

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1. NON-DISCRIMINATION IN PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT. Despite broad support, the bill to add sexual orientation to the employment non-discrimination policies applicable to state employees, was tabled in committee.

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I would support legislation that extended the state employee non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation-- following in the tradition of Governors Warner and Kaine.

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2. GROUP LIFE INSURANCE. A bill that would have allowed employers to extend group life insurance policies to any class of persons as agreed to by the employer and its insurer as is now the case with group health insurance (Virginia was the last state to allow this) was likewise killed in a House subcommittee.
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I support this legislation.
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3. HOUSING NON-DISCRIMINATION. Two bills sought to add "sexual orientation" to the would have added "sexual orientation" to the Virginia Fair Housing Law covering all rental and sales transactions. covering non-discrimination in all rental and sales transactions. Once again, the bills were killed in a House of Delegates subcommittee.

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I support legislation that would add “sexual orientation” to the Virginia Fair Housing Law covering all rental and sales transactions. It’s important for all people to be treated equally under the law.

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4. ANTI-BULLYING POLICY. A bill was introduced that would have required the model policy to specifically address bullying directed at a student because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. After numerous amendments, all references to sexual orientation or gender expression were removed.

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It’s critically important that all Virginia children feel safe at school and in our communities. As Lt. Governor I would support policies that protect LGBT students and any other students from bullying. In fact, part of the $2.5 million dollars that I’ve personally committed to public schools in Virginia has gone to fund anti-bullying programs.