GOP Controlled House of Delegates Rejects All Pro-Gay Bills

While busy condemning Islam and ISIS, Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates were busy prostituting themselves to Virginia's own religious extremist organization, The Family Foundation ("TFF"), a hate group in all but formal designation which seeks to impose its Christofascists version of Sharia law on all Virginians and to denigrate LGBT Virginians in particular.  Thanks to the extremists at TFF and its Republican political whores in the House of Delegates, LGBT Virginians remain subject to summary firing even by state agencies and departments and are otherwise still third class citizens.  And editorial in the Fredericksburg Free Lance Star condemns to GOP's bigotry.  Here are excerpts:

Four pieces of General Assembly legislation aimed at protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender public employees from workplace discrimination have failed to make it out of the House of Delegates this year. It’s an embarrassing situation that suggests Virginia still has some catching up to do in the modern world.

The initiatives before the General Assembly would have expanded the language of the executive order to include all public employees in Virginia, whether they work for the state or any locality. There is no attempt—yet—to protect private-sector employees as well, though five states, including Maryland, and many large companies, already do.

With the legislation’s demise, Virginia will again fail to join dozens of other states that offer codified state employment discrimination protection to at least gay and lesbian workers. Virginia could have been the 17th state to include gender identity as well as sexual orientation bias protection.

Is there at least any progress on the issue in the General Assembly? It depends on how you look at it. The two Senate bills introduced by Sens. Donald McEachin (D–Richmond) and Adam Ebbin (D–Alexandria) were combined into McEachin’s SB785, which passed in the Senate thanks to two Republican crossover votes and a tie-breaking vote by Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam.

The bill was then tabled—killed—by a House subcommittee.

Republicans on that subcommittee outnumber Democrats 6–2, so the chances of such measures getting to the full committee, let alone the full House, are slim and none.

There is nothing about being gay, or lesbian, or transgender that disqualifies one from being a person, or an American or a Virginian. Ending discrimination in any form, against any group, is as important as any responsibility that our lawmakers in Richmond have. So far, it’s one they are shirking.

Virginians shouldn’t have to rely on the governor’s order, which could be undone by the state’s next chief executive. The General Assembly needs to pass a law.

Of course, gays aren't the only ones TFF Hates.  Its followers also hate blacks, the poor, Hispanics and anyone else who isn't a lily white far right Christian.