Virginia Senate Kills Two Anti-Gay Bills

It was an easy guess that critical race theory - which isn't even taught in Virginia public schools - and any honest  teaching of Virginia and American history would not be the only targets of the Virginia GOP now lead by Glenn "Dumbkin" Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares who seemingly has the "charm" and mindset of Heinrich Himimler.  And sure enough, two GOP anti-gay bills (I'm sure there will be more) were introduced by Republicans to erase hard won LGBT protections and treat our existence as a "divisive" topic in public schools.  Thankfully, the Democrat controlled Virginia Senate is serving as a firewall against Republican/Christofascist hate and intolerance and the bills were killed as reported by the Washington Blade.  Here are details:

Two anti-LGBTQ bills died in the Virginia Senate on Thursday.

A Senate Education subcommittee voted against state Sen. Travis Hackworth (R-Tazewell County)’s Senate Bill 20, which would have eliminated the requirement that school districts must implement the Virginia Department of Education’s transgender and non-binary student guidelines.

The Senate General Laws and Technology Committee in an 8-7 vote tabled state Sen. Mark Peake (R-Lynchburg)’s Senate Bill 177, a religious freedom measure that critics contend would have allowed anti-LGBTQ discrimination in housing.

Virginia’s statewide nondiscrimination law includes sexual orientation and gender identity. Peake’s bill would have removed “the provision of the exemption for religious organizations under the Virginia Fair Housing Law that denies such exemption where the membership in such religion is restricted on account of race, color, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, or disability.”

The General Assembly’s 2022 legislative session began on Jan. 12 with Republicans in control of the House of Delegates. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin took office three days later.

Democrats, who maintain a 21-19 majority in the state Senate, have vowed to block any anti-LGBTQ bill.