Taliban Bob Reappoints Homophobe to Virginia Tech Board of Visitors

Taliban Bob McDonnell is continuing his quest against LGBT Virginians and has reappointed homophobic Roanoke attorney, John Rocovich to the Board of Visitors of Virginia Tech. No doubt Victoria Cobb, frigid ice queen of The Family Foundation will have an orgasm knowing that a proven gay-hater is back on the Tech governing board. During Rocovich's previous tenure in 2003, he led the board to revoke the University's prohibition against discrimination based on sexual orientation. The appointment is baffling in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez which ruled against a "Christian" university organization that wanted to discriminate against gays. I guess as a Regent Law grad, McDonnell doesn't grasp that Virginia IS bound by U.S. Supreme Court decisions (the utterly insane, Virginia AG Ken Kookinelli suffers from a similar affliction). Here are highlights from the Washington Post which quotes my good friend Mark Board, Chairman of Equality Virginia:
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McDonnell Thursday appointed John Rocovich, chairman of a Roanoke lawfirm, to the university's governing board. Rocovich had previously served on the board under Gov. Jim Gilmore (R), during a time when the board repealed the school's policy barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. That issue has returned to the forefront in recent months, after Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) wrote a letter to each public university, asking them to rescind such policies.
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The universities have responded by reaffirming those policies, and McDonnell issued Executive Directive No. 1, prohibiting discrimination in the state workforce.
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Mark Board, chair of the Board of Equality Virginia, said the following about Rocovich's appointment in a statement: Equality Virginia is disappointed that the Governor would look to the past in making board appointments and choose to reappoint John Rocovich to the Virginia Tech board," said Mark Board, chairman of the group in a statement today. "During Mr. Rocovich's tenure as Rector of the VA Tech Board in 2003, he led the board to revoke the University's commitment to affirmative action and to repeal the University's prohibition against discrimination based on sexual orientation. When his term expired, Governor Warner replaced him on the Board, and the new board reversed these actions. Given this past history, the Governor's decision to reappoint Mr. Rocovich to the Tech Board sends a negative message to the Hokie nation about the sincerity of the Governor's commitment to the enforcement of his executive directive #1 and his commitment to ensure Tech's GLBT employees and students are protected from discrimination.

2010 Legislative Outlook for LGBT Virginians

Virginia continues to be one of the worse states in the USA for gay employees. Between favoring "at will" employment and a total lack of employment non-discrimination protections, LGBT employees often face being fired because of their sexual orientation and are left with no legal recourse whatsoever. Incoming Governor Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell has indicated that he will not renew Executive Order 1 (2006) which purported to protect state employees which even if dubious effect - I just found out today that a case I am handling for a fired gay employee has been transferred from the Court of Appeals to the Virginia Supreme Court - it's existence at least may have had the effect of reigning in at least some homophobic state supervisory personnel. Now, as DC Agenda reports, Adam Ebbin - Virginia's sole gay member of the Virginia General Assembly - may introduce two gay affirming bills in the 2010 session of the General Assembly. Here are some story highlights:

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Equality Virginia CEO Jon Blair said the two bills expanding workplace discrimination protections and permitting employee life insurance benefits for domestic partners were the lobby group’s top priorities with the best chance of passing in 2010. Other bills to be considered by committees, but with a more doubtful future, include extending reproductive technology access to unmarried couples.
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Blair’s big-ticket item is passing a bill barring workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, enshrining in law former Gov. Tim Kaine’s executive order that incoming Gov. Bob McDonnell declined to continue. Like the executive order it will replace, if passed, the workplace protection will only cover public employees. Blair hoped, though, that step would be just the start.“Virginia is the only state in the nation where it is 100 percent legal to fire someone based on their perceived sexual orientation. Protected classes are race, gender, creed — those kinds of things,” he said.
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The lobby group’s second priority this year is a group life insurance bill that would allow insurers and employers to mutually agree upon any group of people they’re willing to insure. . . . “Employees want it, employers want it, and insurers want it, and all we need is the General Assembly to bless it,” Blair said. “We’re not just talking about GLBT people here. Any person who has an otherwise qualified adult in their household who they want to provide insurance to, including straight couples.
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“This isn’t just about recruiting new employees, either,” Blair said. “There are companies here that have more than one major headquarters and they cannot promote employees from one of those offices to their main headquarters here because employees will refuse the promotion based on losing their benefits. Because when they live in Montreal or Seattle or wherever they are allowed to provide benefits to those partners and when they move here they lose them.”
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“When you explain the life insurance bill is revenue neutral and won’t cost employers anything, that means something,” he said. “When you can say a comprehensive non-discrimination policy is good for business and employers recruiting employees — and 88 percent of fortune 500 companies in Virginia already voluntarily have a non-discrimination policy because they on their own decided it was a good idea — that means something.”
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The state’s only openly gay delegate, Adam Ebbin, a Democrat, noted that he felt there would be “more than one Republican” joining him in supporting both bills. “The insurance industry and business community very much support this. If people see the advantage of this bill for a wide variety of potential policy beneficiaries, I think it can pass.”
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Sadly, I do get calls from employees who have employers wanting to promote them and move them to Virginia. The first question they ask is about employment protections and I have to tell them that the state provides them nothing. A number - not surprisingly - have decided to turn down the promotion and remain in more gay friendly states.

Equality Virginia 2009 Legend’s Honoree Announced

This is my fourth year of involvement with the Equality Virginia's Legends Gala fundraiser - last year I was co-chair of the event. This year's honoree is a wonderful friend, Cynthia Cutler, who is a one woman dynamo of civic involvement for both LGBT and other area non-profit organizations in the Hampton Roads area. Her involvement with the LGBT community is long standing and with eight intrepid other individuals and myself, she joined in founding Hampton Roads Business OutReach, a/k/a HRBOR, one of the fastest growing affiliates of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce ("NGLCC"). Cindy is very, very deserving of this honor. The following is the press release about the event which will take place on Saturday, November 7, 2009:

On November 7, 2009, Equality Virginia (EV) will pay tribute to local activist Cynthia Cutler as the honoree at its 4th annual “Legends Gala” to be held at Norfolk’s Waterside Marriot. Cutler joins past honorees Ann Dearsley-Vernon, Yvonne Miller and Claus Ihleman as exemplars in the continued fight for equality for all Virginians.

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Ms. Cutler is widely known in the Hampton Roads LGBT community as a relentless organizer and an outspoken advocate for LGBT equality. Shannon Bowman, EV Legends Committee Co-Chair, states, “Cindy has continued to inspire both the gay and straight community to demand change. She tirelessly takes on leadership roles to facilitate this change without regard to any negative implications her affiliation with LGBT organizations may bring personally.” Cutler, a mortgage specialist with Tidewater Home Funding, has an extensive résumé of community involvement. Among the organizations benefiting from her involvement are Equality Virginia, YWCA, ACCESS Aids Care and Hampton Roads Business OutReach to name but a few.

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The Legend’s Gala, now in its 4th year, is a fund raising event for EV in their continued efforts to bring equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Virginians. Equality Virginia, founded in 1989 as Virginians for Justice, is a statewide, non-partisan, education, outreach and advocacy organization. Its work includes research, voter education and advocacy on a broad range of issues of concern to LGBT Virginians including workplace discrimination, marriage and relationship recognition and anti-violence programs.

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Last year’s event, held at the Norfolk Yacht and Country Club was attended by over 250 and raised more than $45,000 for the organization. Cutler’s wide ranging network of friends, associates and admirers sets the stage for the 2009 event to far exceed this lofty goal.

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Sponsorship levels for the event range from $5000 to $500. For more information contact Mardi Krantz at 804.643.4816 or go to www.EqualityVirginia.org.

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Equality Virginia’s Board of Directors and the Legend’s Gala Committee are proud to honor Ms. Cutler as this year’s Legend’s Honoree. It is her selfless commitment to our ideals that gives hope to one day reaching the goal of a truly inclusive Commonwealth for all Virginians.
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This year’s event will be at the Marriott Waterside. Tickets are available now for $100 and will go up to $135 after Oct 1. Tickets can be purchased online at www.EqualityVirginia.org.

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The boyfriend and I will be "pit bosses" high end Monte Carlo night theme of the event and we hope local readers will make a point to attend the event and say hello to us.

Interview with Equality Virginia's Executive Director

Last month I wrote about the ill fate of ten bills up for consideration in the Virginia General Assembly that would have added protections and/or benefits for LGBT Virginians. It was not a pleasant picture and shows that living in Virginia can be a very negative experience. Subsequently, I interviewed Jon Blair, the Executive Director of Equality Virginia (Equality Virginia is a statewide, non-partisan lobbying, outreach and education organization seeking equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Virginians), to get an idea of his prospective of where the battle for gay equality is headed in Virginia. Surprisingly, while describing what transpired as a “mixed bag,” Jon overall was upbeat despite the across the board defeats experienced by the bills this legislative session.
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Why was he upbeat? Because s he explained it, the committee votes killing legislation do not tell the entire story. For example, he said that where once such bills might get only one supporting vote in committee, now some had reached a tie in committee. While still not enough to pass the measure onto the full House of Delegates or Senate, as applicable, the clear progress in growing support is encouraging and indicates that with further education of members of the General Assembly perhaps successful passage of bills is in the near future.
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He also expressed the view that the death of bills in committee reflected the willingness of a minority on committees in the House of Delegates to disregard the will of the majority of Virginians who, for example, favor employment protections for LGBT Virginians. Through retirement and election defeat some of those who pose roadblocks to pro-LGBT legislation will be leaving the scene.
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As to what actions LGBT Virginians can take to foster an atmosphere where pro-LGBT legislation can be successfully passed, Jon stressed that individual Virginians can make a difference. While he considered the 2009 Lobby Day to be very successful – despite snowstorms in western Virginia that prevented some from attending the event – he believed that coordinating local visits to the district offices of Delegates and Senators was the most powerful thing that one can undertake. Unfortunately, many legislators do not know gay constituents in their districts and all they hear is the propaganda disseminated by The Family Foundation (an affiliate of Daddy Dobson’s Focus on the Family). As a result he believed coordinated visits by voters would help dispel stereotypes and bring home the fact that there are gay voters in legislators’ home districts who in a tight race could be decisive in determining an election.
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The other things that LGBT Virginians can do is to spend time educating themselves on the status of legislation – I am continually amazed that many gay Virginians think they already have employment protections when in fact they have none – or write letters to the editor, get involved with online organizing and obviously, support pro-gay candidates even if they are in other electoral districts.
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Going forward, expect to see pro-LGBT legislation reintroduced every year until final success is realized.

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One way fair minded Virginians can help is to attend the Commonwealth Dinner - Equality Virginia's largest fundraising event - on April 4th in Richmond. Details can be found here. The principal speaker will be Leslie Jordan of Will & Grace and Sordid Lives fame.