Virginia Doesn't Protect All of its Workers

I have addressed this topic a number of times, but wanted to look at Virginia's increasingly out of step refusal to protect LGBT Virginians from employment discrimination. This failure is all the more lamentable because surveys and polls show that the vast majority of Virginians support such protections. Why the disconnect? Because the Republican Party of Virginia operates as a defacto arm of Daddy Dobson's Virginia affiliate organization, The Family Foundation. Repeatedly LGBT friendly legislation is killed in the General Assembly along party line votes - often in committee so as to avoid a floor vote. My friend and Equality Virginia chairman, Mark Board, has an op-ed in today's Daily Press that sums up the sad state of affairs in Virginia for LGBT citizens:
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Virginia has no law protecting state employees from discrimination at work. Governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine issued executive orders guaranteeing freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation or disability. Gov. Bob McDonnell has not re-issued this order, saying it was a matter for the General Assembly. The General Assembly voted down (along party lines) consideration of this matter despite repeated polling data that verifies 90 percent of those asked favored including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered employees in public employment nondiscrimination policy.
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Despite favorable passing in the Virginia Senate, 2010 marks the fourth year this measure has failed in the House of Delegates.
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The inclusion of sexual orientation in this list is one of the chief reasons. While 30 other states and nearly 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies protect their workers from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, Virginia's legislature is loath to do so. While all major universities and many localities in Virginia, including Roanoke and Blacksburg, publicly affirm the rights of their gay and lesbian employees, the commonwealth steadfastly refuses.
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While the AARP, the Virginia Education Association, the Virginia Governmental Employees Association, the Virginia AFL-CIO and other groups support this common-sense protection of workers, the General Assembly fails again and again to give this legislation attention.
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Until this change, state employees cannot be assured of being treated fairly in the hiring, promotion or firing process. Virginians deserve better.