Bearing Drift: GOP Opposition to LGBT Anti-Discrimination Laws is A Losing Proposition

I do not always agree with the views espoused on Bearing Drift, which describes itself as "Virginia's Conservative Voice," but unlike many of the far right outlets, there is intelligent thought at Bearing Drift - at least sometimes.  Whether or not it's enough to overcome the insidious influence of the horrid, hate filled Christofascists at The Family Foundation is another question.  But perhaps it is a start.  I particularly liked this post that gets right in the face of the theocrats and seeks to wake the Virginia GOP up to objective reality when it comes to the long term negative anti-gay bigotry is for the GOP.  Here are some post excerpts:

Earlier this week in Richmond, on a tie vote in the Senate General Laws Committee, a bill that would have prohibited sexual-orientation discrimination in state government employment was defeated. Only one of the Republicans on the committee, Jill Vogel, voted in favor of the bill.

Last year a similar bill made it out of committee and was approved on a 24-15 vote in the state Senate before being defeated in the Republican-dominated House of Delegates, where it was left in the General Laws Committee and never got to the floor.

Four years ago, when similar legislation was under consideration by the General Assembly, I spoke in favor of SB66 as a representative of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia I noted that the RLCVA had endorsed the bill “because we believe it is not the place of the government to discriminate on irrelevant characteristics in employment regarding otherwise law-abiding citizens and taxpayers.”

Majorities of American voters oppose workplace discrimination — in hiring, firing, and promotion — against gay men and lesbians (or, to use the current term of art, “LGBT Americans”).

So the question I want to ask is, Are Virginia Republicans shooting themselves in the foot by opposing a form of this popular legislation? 

After all, the bills that have been coming before the General Assembly have addressed only government employment and have not attempted to impose non-discrimination policies on private employers (who, as I noted earlier, already tend to have adopted those policies on their own initiative).

The TargetPoint Consulting survey also looked into whether elected officials would benefit or suffer by voting in favor of anti-discrimination bills like this. While this survey referred only to the federal ENDA bill, but the sentiment would probably be held by constituents of state lawmakers, as well.

Electoral consequences of support are more positive than negative. 39% of voters say they would support the re-election of a member of Congress that voted for a bill that prohibits employment discrimination against gay and transgender Americans, while 33% say they would oppose their re-election.

To put it bluntly, opposing anti-discrimination laws that apply to gay and lesbian Virginians is a losing proposition for Republican officeholders.

Is there a principled argument for permitting the government to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or any other characteristic rather than the ability or inability to perform one’s duties on the job in a competent and effective manner? If so, I have not yet heard it.