Blogging Hiatus - Moore v. Virginia Museum of Natural History

From this morning through tomorrow evening, I will be taking a hiatus from blogging. Tomorrow at 1:00 PM, the Supreme Court of Virginia will hold oral arguments on the case of Michael Moore v. Virginia Museum of Natural History. Moore (at left) is a former employee of the Virginia Museum of Natural History who was terminated in November, 2006, for being gay. The Williams Institute has references to the case here as a case where a gay employee was terminated because of his sexual orientation by a public entity in Virginia.
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Amazingly, yours truly - who is neither a litigation attorney nor an appellate case attorney - finds himself scheduled to present the oral argument on Moore's behalf tomorrow. The boyfriend and I will drive to Richmond tonight and meet Michael Moore and we will return after the oral argument tomorrow. The state's pleadings clearly state that:
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Sexual orientation is not a protected class under either state or federal law. . . . The only source of protection for this classification is provided by the Governor's Executive Order #1 which, by itself, does not provide a cause of action.

In total contrast, Governor McDonnell's Executive Directive 1 (2010) makes the following statement in relevant part:

The Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution prohibits discrimination without a rational basis against any class of persons. Discrimination based on factors such as one's sexual orientation or parental status violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.

The disconnection between these two legal positions cannot get much more apparent. Moreover, briefs on Moore's behalf have made among other arguments the exact one now embraced in Executive Directive 1 (2010). I have no idea how all this will end up, but will obviously be a nervous wreck until after the argument is over tomorrow afternoon.