As Ken Cuccinelli continues to bring negative publicity to Virginia through his quest to reinstate the sodomy statute which has been twice ruled unconstitutional, Bob Witeck, the president of Witeck Communications who provides consulting services to Fortune 500 corporations and nonprofits on LGBT issues, has an op-ed in the Virginian Pilot that lays out why Cuccinelli and the Virginia GOP's anti-gay agenda is bad for Virginia and its economy. Here are some excerpts:
Virginia has been among America's economic leaders and why so many successful multinational and high-tech firms find their welcome here.
Last month, however, that welcoming reputation darkened when Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli overreacted to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. Declaring that for 400 years Virginians have defined marriage as between one man and one woman, Cuccinelli then insisted that the repeal of DOMA had no relevance for Virginians.
Such a mindset creates a chill for the state's leading companies and multinational businesses because they walk the walk on nondiscrimination and fairness. Many have earned high scores from the Human Rights Campaign for their equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers.
Volkswagen, Hilton Corporation, Rolls Royce and 32 out of 50 of Virginia's top employers have workplace nondiscrimination policies that include LGBT Virginians. Those companies also include SAIC, Dominion Virginia Power, Lockheed Martin and Capital One - all competing for the same pool of highly educated talent.
This appetite for talent explains why 278 U.S. corporations and employers, including many with workers in Virginia like Marriott, Xerox, Cisco Systems and Starbucks, also urged overturning the Defense of Marriage Act. They know that treating all employees equally is good business - and now that the federal government recognizes same-sex marriages performed in 13 states and Washington, D.C., they can also save money and streamline their own complex payroll and administrative systems.
Consider the greatest irony. Virginia has the nation's largest concentrations of women and men serving on our combined military and federal payrolls. With Don't Ask, Don't Tell lifted, thousands today may also serve openly and proudly regardless of their sexual orientation. And with DOMA consigned to the dustbin, married same-sex couples - even those living in Virginia serving in uniform - will be recognized as married by their employer, Uncle Sam. They will be treated equally under federal tax laws and with health benefits. But not yet by our backward-looking commonwealth.
The competition for superior talent goes hand in hand with appealing communities and welcoming cultures. Very few openly LGBT executives and managers eagerly await job transfer, with spouses and children too, to states like Virginia that insist on denying equal legal protections and stability, or whose leaders neglect the changes that our dynamic economy will bring.
Increasingly, in post-DOMA America, same-sex married couples will align their ambitions with their best interests in choosing to live and work in states that offer them the full respect and equal treatment under the law they need and want for their families. They will find refuge in states where well qualified, openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people today hold civic offices, among them senators, representatives, judges, mayors and council members. They will see that most Americans judge us on the content of our character and not by whom we love.
[D]iscrimination extracts a price too high for any global competitor. Leading companies expect nothing less from their public leaders.
As noted in the past, I regularly receive calls from LGBT individuals considering a job transfer or promotion that would bring them to Virginia. Many turn down the jog prospect so that they can remain in more gay friendly states. I encourage them to tell their employers or prospective employers, as applicable, why they will not be taking the offer. If these companies hear this story line often enough, they can and will put pressure on politicians prostituting themselves to the Christofascists and hate groups like The Family Foundation.
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