The 11th Biblical Plague: Virginia Beach’s Jeffrey McWaters

I've noted several times that Virginia - once Governor Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell signs the bill - expressly allow adoption and foster care agencies receiving state funding to openly discriminate against would be adoptive and foster home parents based on "moral beliefs." This travesty is allegedly describe to protect faith based agencies even as it tramples over the civil and religious rights of others. And all of this is done on the state's dime. Tax payer funds are directly used to discriminate against other taxpayers. One can only hope that this abortion of a law gets challenged in court and struck down as unconstitutional. Local online news site AltDaily has an op-ed that looks at, Jeffrey McWaters (pictured at left), the principal architect of this Christianist wet dream of a law. Given McWater's willingness to kiss the asses of the folks at The Family Foundation and his homophobia, one can only wonder how long it will be before he's caught using Mega Phone like former Congressman Ed Schrock - will McWaters falsely describe himself as "buff" like Schrock? - or having a "wide stance" malfunction like Larry Craig. Here are some column highlights:

The bill, SB 349, codifies discrimination for the explicit purpose of protecting adoption agencies’ “moral beliefs.” Not only that, agencies will be able to knowingly place gay children with anti-gay foster parents, even those who would send the kids to “reparative” therapy programs that are well-known for causing teen suicide.

McWaters, who has represented the eastern half of Virginia Beach since 2010, founded Amerigroup in 1994 and built it into a Fortune 500 company. If he hasn’t yet made himself a billionaire off Amerigroup, he’s surely close to it. The company’s website claims its “only business is managing publicly funded health programs for our Nation’s most vulnerable.” In other words, McWaters created a middleman that profits off Medicaid funding and drives up the cost of indigent care.

A few years ago Amerigroup settled for $225 million in a lawsuit over accusations that it categorically blocked eligible pregnant women from coverage. Since there’s relatively little media scrutiny of state-level candidates in Virginia, McWaters won a Senate seat despite the ethical stain of that lawsuit. Now he’s on the Education and Health committee, fighting against attempts to put Virginia in compliance with the Affordable Care Act and crafting legislation that will further enrich Amerigroup.

McWaters attends the ultra-conservative Trinity Church in Virginia Beach. According to the church’s website, every last word in the Bible is “infallible” and divorce “is always contrary to God’s original intention.” Given that McWaters is a church elder, I’m guessing he had a hand in Trinity’s decision in 2007 to split from the Episcopal Church and “launch a new congregation outside the denomination they accuse of heresy.” The heretical act in question: the Episcopal Church’s ordination of Gene Robinson, a gay man, in 2003.

While I’m used to the brand of homophobia mandated by Leviticus, it’s not every day you hear folks in the infallible-Bible set speaking highly of the Plagues of Egypt. But Jeff McWaters isn’t your everyday Bible-thumper. The day before Hurricane Irene hit Virginia — at a time when many of us were scared for our safety — McWaters wrote cheerily on his Senate website that “The good news is that after this weekend, we will have endured five of the ten ancient biblical plagues.”

I’ve always figured that if a legislator uses his public platform to scream loudly and daily that gays are attacking his family and country and morals and marriage, we might as well attack. So I’ve tried to shine lights on the Virginians who fill that bill, but I’ve overlooked McWaters. I regret any role my omission has played in the success of SB 349. From now on I’ll write about him in a manner that achieves parity with his own conduct toward gay people, especially since his ambition of late suggests a desire to maybe run for statewide office. It will be a pleasure, Senator.

Want to let Jeff McWaters know how you feel? Here are some ways to reach out to him: Here’s his Facebook page. Legislative aides: Ross Grogg; ross@jeffmcwaters.com and Cheryl Simmons; cheryl@jeffmcwaters.com. Capital office: 804-698-7508. District office: 757-965-3700. General: info@jeffmcwaters.com. Amerigroup on Facebook.

Unfortunately, McWaters is an example of the type of self-enriching religious extremist that makes up so much of the Republican Party of Virginia. The irony is that one of McWaters' co-conspirators in the Trinity break away from the Episcopal Church was a former law partner of mine who - yes, you guessed it - is divorced and remarried. Funny how the "infallible word of God" only applies to gays while Christianists are free to pick and choose what they want to ignore. Why do I feel the word hypocrites on my lips?