If we were not talking about the potentially severe negative impact that their actions will have on the lives of LGBT Virginians, it would be almost comical observing the pile of poop that Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli (pictured at left) have stepped in during their quest to keep religious based discrimination against LGBT citizens alive in Virginia. In an earlier post I noted that the Virginia Pilot had slammed McDonnell for his actions. Joining in that condemnation are the Washington Post and the Daily Press in their editorials pages today. Adding to the fun is an indication from the President of William and Mary that he thinks Cuccinelli can shove his letter. First, here are highlights from the main editorial in the Washington Post:*
IN A MARCH 4 missive to state colleges and universities, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) argued that the schools had overstepped their legal bounds by enacting nondiscrimination policies that include protections for sexual orientation. . . . Translation: Discrimination is alive, well and now encouraged in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
*
[C]olleges and universities traditionally have been given broad leeway to set policy. These schools have been havens for inclusive policies that often go hand-in-hand with academic freedom. It's sad and telling that as one of his earliest acts in office, the attorney general would actively reach out to enable discrimination. His opinion would, in the words of a former governor and current senator, Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), "hurt the ability of our colleges and universities to attract the very best faculty, staff and students and [would] damage the Commonwealth's reputation for academic excellence and diversity."
*
If legislators did their jobs, the attorney general's well-known views on the evils of homosexuality would become quaint artifacts instead of the arbiter of policy for what has been, until now, a first-class system of higher education.
*
*
Adding to the punches to McDonnell and Cuccinelli is a column in today's Newport News based Daily Press - Newport News is the home of Northrop Grumman's immense Newport News Shipbuilding facility. If McDonnell is supposed to be the "new kind of Republican," the nation at large needs to take note. Here are some highlights:
*
If you think Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's directive to public colleges and universities to remove protections for gay and lesbian employees is an aberration — it's not. If you expect Gov. Bob McDonnell to rein him in — he won't.
*
Why? Because it fits in fine with McDonnell's utopian vision of a Virginia where women don't work, gays don't exist, there's no sex outside marriage, birth control is a contradiction in terms, every pregnancy is planned and perfect, and Mommy and Daddy stay together forever and ever. McDonnell laid out that vision in his infamous master's thesis at televangelist Pat Robertson's Regent University in 1989. And — while he tries to distance himself from his ideology during campaigns — once he's in office, the proof always returns to the pudding.
*
Not quite three months in, McDonnell's already hauled it out of the closet, shaken it off and run it up the flagpole. All on his own, he erased protections for gay and lesbian state employees. He announced he supports denying state funds to Planned Parenthood. Now his AG has declared for no good public reason that public institutions can't protect employees based on "sexual orientation," "gender identity," etc.
*
Local college officials want to study the letter before responding, but students are weighing in via social networks and a rally planned for today in Richmond. A Facebook page by College of William and Mary students in Williamsburg drew 1,368 members by Tuesday and vows: "This generation will not back down." Unfortunately, this generation is not in charge.
*
Cuccinelli's letter, in fact, drew support from the conservative Family Foundation, . . . In an e-mail to supporters, the group lamented any "forced acceptance of a lifestyle that many Virginians find antithetical to their faith."Yet its members have no problem using the law to force their lifestyle — bigoted intolerance — on those who consider it antithetical to their own belief system.
*
Lastly, there is the message published on the William & Mary website by William & Mary President Taylor Reveley to the W&M College community on Tuesday, March 9, 2010. Here are highlights:
*
For now, let’s be clear that William & Mary neither discriminates against people nor tolerates discrimination on our campus. Those of us at W&M insist that members of our campus community be people of integrity who have both the capacity to meet their responsibilities to the university and the willingness to engage others with civility and respect. We do not insist, however, that members of our community possess any other particular characteristics, whether denominated in race, religion, nationality, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other of the myriad personal characteristics that differentiate human beings. We certainly do not discriminate against people on such grounds, or tolerate discrimination against them. . . . This is not going to change.
No comments:
Post a Comment