VA Senate: Ban Conversion Therapy, Set Transgender Policy, Repeal Gay Marriage Ban

For twenty six years, the Virginia GOP - pushed by the hate merchants at The Family Foundation - sought to make life hell for LGBT Virginians and blocked every effort to end anti-gays laws.  Indeed, between 2004 and 2006, the Virginia GOP pushed an aggressively anti-gay agenda culminating in the now unconstitutional ban on same sex marriage.  The newly Democrat controlled Virginia General Assembly is moving to reverse all of this discriminatory legislation as well as ban fraudulent "conversion therapy" so loved by charlatans among the professional Christian crowd and knuckle dragging evangelicals. It is truly the eve of a new day in Virginia when the state will at last move out of the 1950's, if not the 1800's.  Numerous news outlets are reporting on votes in the Virginia Senate that will end the Virginia GOP's horrible policies of licensing hate and bigotry. The queen of hate, Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation must be beside herself that LGBT Virginians will soon have equality under the state's laws. Both the Virginia Mercury and the Washington Post have stories.  Passage in the House of Delegates is expected and Governor Northam will sign them measures into law. Here are highlights from the Mercury:

A suite of LGBT-friendly legislation cleared the Virginia Senate on Tuesday.

Lawmakers voted to:

• ban health professionals like counselors and psychologists from performing conversion therapy on anyone under age 18,
• create uniform policies for transgender students attending public schools,
• make it easier for transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificates and
• remove language from the state code banning gay marriage.

The gay marriage ban has already been invalidated by a 2015 Supreme Court ruling and advocates said the state code should reflect that.

“Right now same-gender marriage is legal in Virginia as it is throughout the country, and the code of Virginia needs to have legal ambiguity removed,” said Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, who sponsored the measure and is the first openly gay person elected to the Virginia General Assembly.

The measure passed 25-13, with only Republican members opposing.

The ban on conversion therapy saw the most opposition among Republicans, with 18 members opposing and one, Sen. Jill Vogel, not voting.

The ban would only apply to minors and does not apply to non-health professionals such as religious leaders. It specifically excludes “counseling that provides acceptance, support and understanding of a person or facilitates a person’s coping, social support and identity exploration and development.”

Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, proposed the legislation addressing birth certificates and school board policies.

Under her proposal, a person who transitioned genders would be able to get a new birth certificate reflecting their new identity. She said during a committee hearing last week that the change aims to address problems transgender residents sometimes face when key documents like drivers licenses and birth certificates don’t match.

The legislation requires “an affidavit provided by a health care provider from whom the person has received treatment stating that the person has undergone clinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of gender transition.”

The bill addressing school policies for transgender students directs the Board of Education to develop a model policy covering issues ranging from how students are identified and dress codes to prevention and responses to bullying and harassment.

School Boards around the state would be required to adopt “policies that are consistent with but may be more comprehensive than” the model policies by the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year.

All four pieces of legislation must now be adopted by the House of Delegates to make it to Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk.

As the Post piece notes, another measure would eliminate "husband and wife" language in the Virginia Code and substitute "parties to marriage" to make Code provisions reflect the existence of same sex marriage.  Republicans had blocked this change since 2015 when Virginia's gay marriage ban was declared unconstitutional.  Here are excerpts from the Post:

The chamber also voted to replace “husband and wife” with gender-neutral “parties to the marriage” language in divorce law and make it easier for transgender people to change how their sex is listed on their birth certificates.

The bills now move to the Democratic-controlled House of Delegates, where they are expected to get a warm reception.

Advocates for expanded LGBT rights have long been stymied by the General Assembly, where Republicans have controlled at least one chamber for the past quarter-century.

Democrats Take Control of Virginia General Assembly

In what will hopefully be a prelude to the 2020 federal elections, Democrats in Virginia have won control of both the Virginia Senate and the House of Delegates for the first time since 1993.  Both House Delegates candidates that the husband and I backed financially - Martha Mugler and Shelly Simonds - were victorious.  As Governor Ralph Northam - a good friend  - noted, this will usher in a much needed sea change in Virginia:

“Tonight, the ground has shifted in Virginia government. The voters have spoken, and they have elected landmark Democratic majorities in both the Senate and the House of Delegates. I am proud of my fellow Democrats and inspired by our shared victory.

“Since I took office two years ago, we have made historic progress as a Commonwealth. Tonight, Virginians made it clear they want us to continue building on that progress.

“They want us to defend the rights of women, LGBTQ Virginians, immigrant communities, and communities of color. They want us to increase access to a world-class education for every child, and make sure no one is forced to go bankrupt because they or a family member gets sick. They want us to invest in clean energy and take bold action to combat climate change. And they want us to finally pass commonsense gun safety legislation, so no one has to fear being hurt or killed while at school, at work, or at their place of worship.

No doubt there is much gnashing of teeth among white supremacist circles and among Christofascist zealots who for the last two decades have sought to inflict their hate and fear driven version of religion on all Virginians.  Tonight, a majority of Virginians said "no more." and sent those who coddle the gun lobby and haters of all stripes into retirement.   The Virginian Pilot reports in part as follows:

Democratic victories in two senate districts in suburban Richmond and one in Loudoun County gave them a 21 seat majority, while the GOP held narrow leads in two Virginia Beach districts targeted by by million-dollar-plus efforts to flip to blue.

A new 55-or-more-seat Democratic majority in the House came in part from gains in two House districts on the Peninsula, including the Newport News one where a tie vote and a drawing of a lot gave the GOP a 51-49 majority in 2017. Republicans held slight leads in two Beach seats Democrats had targeted with the final precincts still to count.

House Appropriations Committee chairman Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, [who lied extensively in his campaign ads and used racist dog whistling messaging] was defeated by Democrat Clinton Jenkins in a district federal judges drastically changed to undo the General Assembly’s illegal 2011 gerrymandering.

Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, was re-elected. But like Cox, he will lose most of his power to steer or block legislation with the new Democratic majority.

Throughout the election, Democrats sought to tie Republican candidates to President Donald Trump, warning them that a vote for Republicans would mean siding with the gun lobby and reducing access to affordable health care, including birth control.

On the Peninsula, Democrat Martha Mugler flipped a reconfigured Hampton and Poquoson 91st House district, after the retirement of one of the most loved Generaly Assembly members, Del. Gordon Helsel, R-Poquoson. Democrat Shelly Simonds defeated Del. David Yancey, R-Newport News. He was returned to Richmond after a tie vote in 2017 after he won a lot drawing. Democrat victories in the last GOP-held seat in Fairfax county, and a victory in the Frederickburg suburbs secured House majority.

Democrats held on to the 15 House seats they won in the 2017 blue wave election. . . . Turnout was higher than expected in the usually sleepy off-off year elections.

House Democrats out raised Republicans by nearly $10 million this election cycle, according to the Virginia Public Access project. On the Senate side, Democrats out raised Republicans by $5 million.

We celebrated at both the Mugler and Simonds victory parties.  It was a wonderful night to celebrate democracy and seeing the forces of hate, bigotry and obstruction go down to defeat.

Virginia 94th District Race to Drag Out Further

The continuing saga of the 94th District race appears to be headed for further delays as Democrat Shelly Simonds has petitioned the Newport News Circuit Court to reconsider its decision to award a vote to her Republican opponent even though the ballot had BOTH candidates marked.  One would think that the ballot should have been thrown out completely rather than awarded on a subjective analysis of what the voter might have intended.   In truth, the individual casting the vote should have asked for a new ballot.  The larger lesson is that voters need to get to the polls, especially those in the Democrat base.  The Virginian Pilot looks at the continuing saga.  Here are excerpts:

Democrat Shelly Simonds says elections officials didn’t follow procedure in a recount that could swing the balance of power in the House of Delegates, and she will ask a court to declare her the winner of the 94th District race, according to court documents she plans to file Wednesday.

The winner – either Simonds or Republican Del. David Yancey – was to be determined by a drawing at 11 a.m. in Richmond. After Simonds’ comments Tuesday, it was postponed.

Simonds will ask the Newport News Circuit Court to reconsider the decision to count one disputed ballot in Yancey’s favor last week and name her the winner.

Simonds’ team planned to ask that the drawing be delayed and for an expedited decision from the court.

“While our planned drawing for tomorrow was in full compliance with the Code of Virginia, neutral election administrators should not be choosing election winners — or influencing the next Speaker of the House,” State Board of Elections Chairman James Alcorn said Tuesday via Twitter. The drawing is a last resort, he said, and any concerns regarding the election or recount should be resolved before it takes place.

“This will best serve the voters of HD94 and the rest of the Commonwealth,” he said.

After the Nov. 7 election, Yancey led Simonds by 10 votes. She requested a recount, which resulted in a win by one vote for her. The morning those results were supposed to be certified, Yancey’s lawyers showed the court a ballot they thought should be counted.
On it, the voter filled in both candidates’ bubbles. Simonds’ bubble had a single diagonal slash mark through it. It originally was not counted for either candidate.

Under Virginia law, Simonds’ filing says, votes in a recount can only be redetermined once.

In all, the ballot in question has been reviewed three times, according to the filing.  “This really breaks the recount process in Virginia if this precedent stands,” said Simonds’ lawyer, Ezra Reese.

Jeff Sessions' Crackdown on Marijuana - Is It Really All About Disenfranchising Minorities?

As previous posts have indicated, in my opinion, U.S. Attorney General Sessions is a foul individual. My view dates all the way back to the late 1970's when he and I were both members of the Mobile, Alabama legal community. Sessions has a long history of racism and, as noted previously, failed to prosecute KKK members who lynched a 19 year old young black man, Michael Donald, while I still lived in Mobile (a photo of Donald's body is here). Now, it seems that Sessions has come up with a new means to assault minority communities: crackdown on marijuana - even legal marijuana - to increase convictions that will often lead to felony convictions that will deprive individuals of their voting rights and make it difficult to ever have successful employment opportunities.  Similarly, Sessions cares nothing about youths ensnared by the often draconian marijuana laws (Virginia's laws are horrific thanks to the GOP control of the Virginia House of Delegates).  Sessions likewise ignores the research that negate his  or the fact that research hows that marijuana is not a serious health threat.  A piece in Salon looks at Sessions ugly agenda.  Here are excerpts:

Soon after his election, Donald Trump announced he would appoint Jeff Sessions as attorney general, sending a wave of panic through the world of activism around legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana. Sessions is an old-line drug warrior who opposes all state-level efforts to liberalize marijuana laws, and it was widely feared he would reverse Obama-era Department of Justice policies recommending that federal authorities not interfere with states that legalize marijuana.
In July, Sessions made his first tentative move toward cracking down on states that legalize pot, sending a letter to Washington state officials in which he expressed skepticism about marijuana legalization, repeatedly singling out the fear that such laws would lead to more pot smoking among minors.
If Sessions is legitimately concerned about high school kids and that’s not just a front for promoting laws that are disproportionately enforced on black people, then he probably shouldn’t worry so much. A new study published in the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that the effects of liberalizing marijuana laws on the behavioral outcomes of minors are . . . well, nothing. At least nothing of significance. “Notably, many of the outcomes predicted by critics of liberalizations, such as increases in youth drug use and youth criminal behavior, have failed to materialize in the wake of marijuana liberalizations,” the report reads.
In fact, the researchers found the opposite: Marijuana liberalization was associated with “reduced marijuana, alcohol, and other drug use; reduced desirability of consuming these substances; and reduced access to these substances on school property.”
Marijuana legalization or decriminalization apparently doesn’t do much to change young people’s behavior. Getting arrested for possessing or selling marijuana, however, can have a massive impact on a person’s life.
“Arrests prohibit individuals from fully participating in society, inhibiting their ability to get a job, get a loan, go to college, or even have a place to live,” Kassandra Frederique, the New York State Director at the Drug Policy Alliance, argued in a recent study of New York City’s marijuana arrest rates.
This life disruption, in turn, helps reinforce serious racial disparities in our society. Black and white people smoke marijuana at the same rate, but black people are almost four times as likely to be arrested for it. Even after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio enacted policies that reduced marijuana arrest rates in the city, black and Latino people made up 85 percent of marijuana arrests, despite being only about half the population.
Criminalizing marijuana does little or nothing to reduce crime or improve youth outcomes, but it is highly effective at increasing racial disparities, criminalizing young people of color and derailing career opportunities for young Latinos and African-Americans. Sessions is widely perceived as hostile to civil rights and full equality for people of color, so it’s entirely possible that his interest in escalating marijuana crackdowns is not as innocent as he claims.
If Jeff Sessions does begin to roll back decades of progress on marijuana reform, he’s fighting against the political tide: A survey conducted earlier this year found that 57 percent of Americans believed pot should be legal (although only 40 percent of Republicans held that view). Furthermore, Sessions is pursuing this crusade for no good reason. There is simply no evidence that marijuana liberalization leads to bad outcomes for younger people, while the evidence that being arrested for marijuana causes bad outcomes is overwhelming. Of course, if Jeff Sessions is actively trying to send more people of color to prison on minor drug offenses and damage their future prospects, maybe he knows exactly what he’s doing.

House of Representatives Erupts in Chaos After GOP Kills LGBT Vote

The Republican Party has again demonstrated that it is the party of Christian extremists, hate and anti-LGBT bigotry by defeating a measure that would have barred anti-LGBT employment discrimination by federal contractors.  In the world of the GOP it remains perfectly fine to fire gays solely on the basis of the sexual orientation.  It's an issue that upsets me immensely since I was fired for being gay over a decade ago.  The financial consequences were ruinous for me and my family and it has taken years to recover from it. Of course the House Republicans acted no differently than what we see in the Virginia General Assembly literally every year where pro-LGBT bills are killed and anti-LGBT employment discrimination remains legal in Virginia.  The situation is ironic since a Republican acquaintance has been trying to convince me to come to a fundraiser for a GOP candidate running for the Lt. Governor nomination that he and his wife are hosting.  He wants me simply to talk with the candidate, no monetary contribution required whatsoever.   With votes like this in the House, the question is why bother.  When push comes to shove, it's a strong bet that Republicans will always defer to the "family values" hate groups that set the GOP's social agenda: anti-LGBT animus, racism, and bigotry.   Politico looks at the events in the House.  Here are excerpts:

The House erupted in chaos Thursday morning with Democrats crying foul after Republicans hastily persuaded a few of their own to switch their votes and narrowly block an amendment intended to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination.

It was an unruly scene on the floor with Democrats chanting, "Shame!" after GOP leaders barely muscled up the votes to reject, 212-213, an amendment by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) that would have effectively barred federal contractors from getting government work if they discriminate against the LGBT community.

At one point, a monitor in the House gallery showed there were 217 votes supporting the legislation, eliciting cheers of joy from Democrats who thought the measure might actually pass. But over the course of about 10 minutes, those votes suddenly dropped one by one to 212 — and the amendment failed.

A number of lawmakers from western states, who originally voted yes, changed their votes. According to a list tweeted out an hour after the vote by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) office, they included: California Reps. Darrell Issa, David Valadao, Jeff Denham, Mimi Walters, and Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, Rep. David Yong of Iowa and Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine. Their offices have not yet responded to a request for comment.

Maloney, the amendment's author, was furious with Republicans for how they handled the floor fight over his offering. He singled out Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in particular for criticism, saying the No. 2 House Republican personally lobbied GOP members to change their votes when it looked like Maloney's proposal would pass.

"The leader [McCarthy] went around and twisted their arms, and they voted for discrimination," Maloney said. When Maloney complained directly to McCarthy, he said the majority leader told him "to get back on your own side."

"The members who switched are going to hold a very special place in American history as the people who didn't have the guts to stand up and support the will of the House," Maloney said off the chamber floor after the vote. "They literally snatched discrimination out of the jaws of equality."

The acrimony undermined a success for Ryan earlier that day regarding his commitment to regular order. Just moments before the LGBT vote, he’d shepherded the first House vote to bar the Confederate flag from flying in mass graves at federal cemeteries.

When the votes began shifting out of the 'aye' column on Maloney's measure, booing erupted in the chamber. Almost every Democrat was on his or her feet shouting and eventually they broke out in a chant, pointing their fingers at the other side of the chamber where the Republicans sit: “Shame! Shame! Shame!”

As the amendment was being voted down, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen appeared to shake her head in disappointment. The Florida Republican has a transgender son and is one of the few Republicans who has been outspoken in advocating for the LGBT community.
After the chair closed the vote, Democrats continued shouting in anger.

“I’ve been the majority leader. I’ve been the whip,” Hoyer said on the floor after the vote as he blamed GOP leadership for pushing lawmakers to switch their votes. But he again hit the seven Republicans who changed their positions. “They will have themselves to look at tonight in the mirror and explain to themselves whether their first vote was a principled one.”

Why would I want to attend an event for anyone in a political party that engages in such bigotry? Nothing I could say could outweigh the foul dictates coming down from The Family Foundation, Virginia's leading hate group.  

Transgender Bathroom Bill Killed in Virginia House Committee

As previously noted, all but two of the LGBT targeted bills - all the pro-gay bills and all the other anti-gay  bills - were effectively killed last week by a House of Delegates committee that tabled the bills for "further consideration."  Today, one of the surviving anti-gay bills - a bill targeting transgender individuals that has garnered negative media coverage for Virginia across the globe - was itself killed in a House of Delegates committee.   GayRVA looks at this welcomed development.  Here are brief highlights:

A bill which would have forced transgender Virginia students and citizens to used the restrooms aligned with their birth gender in all public buildings was killed in a House committee meeting today.

HB 781 aimed to require the Director of the Department of General Services and all state school boards to implement policies for every “public building on property that is owned, leased, or controlled by the Commonwealth and every public school restroom, locker room, and shower room that is designated for use by a specific gender” to be used solely by those whose “anatomical sex matches such gender designation.”

If anyone, including students, violates this policy, they would have been charged a $50 civil penalty, though that part was later amended to remove students from paying the fee.

It goes without saying that the hate merchants at The Family Foundation, Virginia's leading hate group supported the discriminatory and animus motivated bill:

“Every student in Virginia has a fundamental right to body privacy, opening restrooms to members of the opposite sex would directly violates students’ constitutional right to privacy,” said Chris Fruend, spokesman for the conservative Richmond group The Family Foundation. He pointed to Federal Courts, like the one in Norfolk, who struck down part of transgender student Gavin Grimm’s complaint against his school board which passed a policy forcing him into a women’s restroom or a gender neutral bathroom.

“We can teach our children to be compassionate to each other without forcing young school-aged children into vulnerable interactions with the opposite sex in restrooms and locker rooms,” Fruend said, calling the bill common sense.

Fruend and his foul mistress, Victoria Cobb, cannot stand religious freedom for anyone but themselves and their fellow Christofascists.

Virginia, Like Indiana Still Hasn’t Learned Its Lesson

As detailed in my upcoming February column in VEER Magazine, this year's General Assembly session has seen a raft of anti-gay, anti-transgender bills introduced by Republicans.  As is the norm with Republicans, the misogyny is cloaked as protecting "religious freedom."  Thankfully, Gov. McAuliffe has promised to veto the bills should they make it out of the legislature.  Pro-gay bills were introduced by Democrats and two have actually passed the Virginia Senate with 6 Republicans supporting them.  Sadly, the bills will likely be killed in the Republican controlled House of Delegates.  As a piece in The Advocate argues, Indiana hasn't learned from its religious freedom bill debacle last year.  The same argument applies to Virginia Republicans.  Here are article excerpts:

In one, foul sweeping gesture of rejection, the Indiana legislature this week killed our best chance of securing equal protections for LGBT Hoosiers this year. The bill, SB 344, was a measure that, while flawed in its current incarnation — with amendments advocates were working to insert — would have prohibited discrimination at the state level.  Indiana lawmakers’ unwillingness to move this bill through the legislative process reflects a special kind of stubbornness. They have not learned from last year, when the prospect of a law that would open the door to discrimination against LGBT Hoosiers unleashed backlash that the state is still feeling today.

Last year, the fight played out in plain sight of the entire nation. Governor Mike Pence and the Indiana legislature passed a Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) bill, which would allow someone to claim that their religion gives them a right to undermine nondiscrimination laws. Prominent allies like Salesforce, the NCAA, Angie’s List, Gen Con, and others spoke up and said that discrimination against LGBT people was not only wrong but bad for business. Some even said they would stop investment in Indiana. 

The national pressure forced lawmakers’ hands into adding a welcomed (though incomplete) “fix” that said the RFRA couldn’t be used to discriminate against LGBT Hoosiers in housing, employment, and public accommodations.

The climate was tense but a victory of sorts was won. For the first time, the majority of the country, including the business community, was united in saying that discrimination against LGBT people is wrong and we must put a stop to it. Better yet, the country was vocally on our side.

[C]ome the 2016 legislative session, lawmakers were angry they had lost both on the RFRA and marriage equality fronts. Perhaps they thought the country wasn’t watching this time. Whatever the reason, rather than moving forward in the direction of the nation and in line with the majority of their constituents and businesses, they introduced “non-discrimination” bills riddled with carve-outs, . . .

There was renewed hope that perhaps an affirmative non-discrimination bill would at long last prevail. SB 344 passed out of committee hours later. Unfortunately, it didn’t go far.

To the rest of the country, may they heed the lessons learned from Indiana and know that we’re watching and assuming ready position. At the end of the day, all we’re fighting for is a fair playing field, one in which everyone can pursue a life of their choosing free from discrimination.  

 Here in Virginia expect a reprise of Indiana's preference for hate and bigotry rather than equality for all citizens.

A Third Redistricting Lawsuit Targets Virginia's Gerrymandered Districts

Neither major political party is innocent when it comes to utilizing gerrymandered districts to retain power.  However, during the last redistricting round, the Virginia GOP took the rigging of districts to a new level, in no small part because it is the only way to hold power when the party's agenda is so increasingly out of step with the views and desires of more and more Virginians.  Two lawsuits are pending challenging the ridiculous districts the Republicans force through in 2011.  Now a third lawsuit has been filed.  The GOP will vigorously fight any changes because compact, contiguous districts could spell the end of GOP domination of the Virginia General Assembly, especially the House of Delegates.  The Washington Post looks at the latest lawsuit.  Here are highlights:

A group of Virginia residents sued state elections officials Monday over 11 legislative districts — including some in Northern Virginia — charging that they violated the state Constitution by enforcing election maps that too easily protect incumbents.

The plaintiffs argue that during the last round of redistricting, in 2011, the General Assembly drew the districts to give incumbents the best chance at holding on to their seats at the expense of geographical compactness, which the Constitution requires. If successful, the suit, which is the third recent court challenge to the state’s elections maps, could scrap the maps and send vulnerable lawmakers scrambling to compete in newly drawn districts.

The House and Senate districts in question are spread all over Virginia and include parts of Prince William County, Manassas, Manassas Park, Fairfax County and Arlington County.

“Our goal is to influence the courts to require the legislature to honor the Constitution when it draws political districts and not subjugate the Constitution to blatant political gerrymandering,” he told reporters outside the courthouse.

The lawsuit targets five House districts and six Senate districts. In the overwhelmingly Republican House, bills intended to reduce the influence of politics on redistricting have quietly disappeared in subcommittees without going to a floor vote. . . .  the Senate, where Republicans have a one-vote edge, passed three nonpartisan redistricting bills in this year’s session only to see them die in the House.

Two previous lawsuits argued that lawmakers illegally packed African American voters into both state and federal districts, diluting their influence elsewhere. One of the suits challenging a single congressional district was successful, and a federal court is sorting out a new map; in the second, judges are still deliberating challenges to a dozen House districts.

The lawsuit argues that all of the 11 targeted districts were intentionally drawn in serpentine shapes to include enough partisan households to ensure the reelection of incumbents. One district was described as a “jagged, U-shaped district surrounding and interlocking,” with another district “like a piece of a poorly designed puzzle.”

In recent years, redistricting in Virginia has helped attract candidates who appeal to the most conservative and liberal extremes, which advocates for nonpartisan redistricting blame for bringing Washington’s gridlock and polarization to Richmond.

Why Steve Heretick and Medicaid Expansion Make Sense for Virginia

Vote for Steve Heretick

On June 9th there will be a primary that will decide who will be the nominee for the 79th House District.  The incumbent, Johnny Joannou is a Democrat in name only and is virulently anti-gay, opposes Medicaid expansion and has sided with the failed policies of the extremists in the Virginia GOP.  It is important that Steve Heretick replaces Joannou as the Democrat candidate in November.  Besides Joannou's anti-gay voting record, his refusal to support Medicaid expansion are the most troubling, especially since many of his own constituents would benefit.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at how Medicaid expansion would benefit Virginia.  Joannou's opposition is particularly disturbing given that many of Virginia's rural hospitals are struggling financially. Here are article highlights:

The White House Council of Economic Advisers released a report saying that states that have expanded Medicaid are better off and if Virginia were to do so, an additional 179,000 residents would have health insurance coverage and 16,000 fewer would experience symptoms of depression.

The report also said Virginia will miss out on $1.24 billion in federal funding in 2016 by not expanding Medicaid. The report’s figures were provided by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit public policy group in Washington.

“By expanding their Medicaid programs, states can improve access to essential medical care, reduce financial hardship, improve their citizens’ physical and mental health, and claim billions of dollars in federal funding that could raise their citizens’ standards of living and make their economies more resilient in the future,” the report said.

Matthew Moran, a spokesman for GOP House Speaker William J. Howell said Republicans remain steadfastly opposed to expansion . . 

The governor’s spokesman, Brian Coy, said McAuliffe is still committed to Medicaid expansion.  “Every day that Republicans in the General Assembly wait to work with the governor to get the best expansion deal for Virginia is another day that thousands of people go without lifesaving care and taxpayers send their hard-earned money to Washington while getting nothing in return,” Coy said.

The irony to me is that the GOP claims to be the party of Christian values and "pro-life" yet once children are born, the GOP kicks them to the gutter along with the poor and less fortunate.  Not exactly what the Gospel message calls one to do.  

Bills Introduced to Ban "Ex-Gay" Therapy in Virginia

Virtually every legitimate mental health and medical association in America condemns the use of "ex-gay" a/k/a "reparative therapy," especially for minors, yet in Virginia it is still perfectly legal to inflict the dangerous, witch doctor like therapy on minors.  The same Republican legislators who want to control every nuance and aspect of a woman's womb could care less about the harm being done to LGBT minors.  Particularly because opposing such therapy would bring down the wrath of The Family Foundation, Virginia's largest hate group, and its dominatrix like president, Victoria Cobb.  As the Washington Blade reports, State Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) and Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington County) have each introduced bills that would ban “conversion therapy” to minors in Virginia.It goes without saying that the always foul Victoria Cobb is acting as if someone took a major dump in her Cheerios. Here are article highlights:

Mathew Shurka was 16 when his father encouraged him to undergo so-called “conversion therapy.”

Shurka told reporters during a press conference near the Virginia State Capitol on Tuesday that he saw “conversion” therapists in the commonwealth, New Jersey, California and his state of New York over the span of five years. Some of the treatments he said they prescribed to him included segregation from his mother and sisters as a way to experience “healthy male bonding,” masturbating to heterosexual pornography and using Viagra as a way to overcome the anxiety attacks he said he experienced while having sex with women.

“I don’t have erectile dysfunction,” said Shurka. “I was not interested in women. I knew what my desire was.”

Shurka spoke in support of a bill that state Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington County) introduced last month that would ban “conversion therapy” to minors in the commonwealth.

State Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) introduced an identical measure on Jan. 12. 

“There is no on-off switch to sexual orientation,” Hope said during the press conference that took place inside the General Assembly Building in downtown Richmond. “This bill is based on science.”

A bill seeking to ban “conversion therapy” to minors that Hope introduced last year died in the Virginia House of Delegates.

“Virginia children and families have a right to expect that a therapist practicing under a license from the state will not put them at risk of severe harm; including depression, substance abuse and suicide,” said Prentiss.

Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia, on Tuesday criticized Hope’s bill.

  

Cobb's opposition, of course, is based on fairy tales authored by Bronze Age goat herders and a belief that children are the chattel property of their parents no matter who insane and abusive such parents may be.   Sadly, I suspect Virginia Republicans will again kill the legislation as they prostitute themselves to Cobb and her foul hate group in a manner that would make the most tawdry of whores blush. 

For the record, I was never subjected to "conversion therapy" but I did try for 37 years to apply some of the supposed "cures" and to pray away the gay.  All id did was eventually bring me to the point of suicide.  It needs to be banned nationwide.  It is nothing less than child abuse.