Tolerence prohibited by Virginia law.

[DarklingAlice]

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/CUCCGAT05_20100305-182601/328592/

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says Virginia’s colleges and universities cannot prohibit discrimination against gays because the General Assembly has not authorized them to do so.

In a letter Thursday to the presidents, rectors and boards of visitors of Virginia public colleges, Cuccinelli said: the law and public policy of Virginia “prohibit a college or university from including ‘sexual orientation’, ‘gender identity’, ‘gender expression’ or like classification, as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly.“

He said the recipients must consider the letter “as the opinion and advice” of the office of Attorney General.

And the recently elected Attorney General said those colleges or universities that have included sexual orientation in their policies acted without proper authority and those policies are invalid.

>_<

[Callie Del Noire]

blink blink..

just when you thought things couldn't get anal enough.

[kylie]

            It's the same style of maneuvering that has happened in a good few states on gay marriage.  The opposition keeps looking for another power to appeal to.

            As I gather, we still don't have a national law that positively grants protection based on sexual orientation or gender identification.  H.R. 3017: Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009, has these protections but is still going through committees. 

           The ACLU has sent a letter to Virginia universities, reminding them that several laws -- and some employment and school policies -- that did discriminate on the basis of orientation or gender ID, have been struck down under equal protection.  http://acluva.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/20100305CollegeNonDiscrimLtr.pdf

[National Acrobat]

As a Virginian, I am not surprised by this. I personally think it's simply a statement by our new Governor and His AG to 'appease' the more conservative voters/supporters of theirs. We're also the state that approved a constitutional amendment banning Gay Marriage even though there was already a State Law doing so, simply so that there could be no further challenges in court regarding the issue. The voting makeup and political orientation of the state is changing, from notoriously conservative to more of a Blue Dog State, and the Republicans do not like it. This is sadly another attempt to hang on to former policy and influence, and as has been mentioned previously, there are already policies, et al. that contradict the AGs position and wouldn't hold up.

Also, the AG is positioning himself to run against the LG in the next Gubanatorial Election in 2013, and is annoyed that the current governor has already positioned the LG as his choice for successor.

So, it's politics as usual here in good old Virginia.

[RubySlippers]

Its the right of the State to do so unless a Federal Law or the US Constitution overrides this. Last time I looked education and setting of rights for or against gays is generally under States rights under the 10th Amendment.

If its enforceable would be up to the Courts though so I say set the policy and let somebody challenge it. Oddly one could join a church that says "Gay is Ok" like the MCC and then apply and declare any discrimination a violation of their religious rights which would be protected.

Kind of silly though.

[National Acrobat]

Update. The Governor (Who is a Conservative Republican and graduate from Pat Robertson's University) basically tells the Attorney General to STFU and GBTW.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/BIAS11_20100310-222606/329665/

In essence, McDonnell issued an Executive Order banning discrimination at Government Institutions, which includes the state universities. McDonnell is trying to lure some corporations to Virginia, including Northrup Grumman, who have strong pro-gay partner policies.

All this really is for the AG is political grandstanding trying to appeal to the base when the next Gubernatorial Campaign gets underway in 3.5 years.

[HockeyGod]

Update. The Governor (Who is a Conservative Republican and graduate from Pat Robertson's University) basically tells the Attorney General to STFU and GBTW.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/BIAS11_20100310-222606/329665/

In essence, McDonnell issued an Executive Order banning discrimination at Government Institutions, which includes the state universities. McDonnell is trying to lure some corporations to Virginia, including Northrup Grumman, who have strong pro-gay partner policies.

All this really is for the AG is political grandstanding trying to appeal to the base when the next Gubernatorial Campaign gets underway in 3.5 years.

No this is not an executive order - it is an executive directive. There are substantial differences between them. Governor McDonnell did not issue an EO banning discrimination, in fact, he did not reauthorize the previous Governor's EO to do so. Governor McDonnell in his EO on employment said that an individual's employment must be based on skill, qualifications and merit. Governor McDonnell's directive is not law and would not affect Northrup Grumman, it technically doesn't even affect state employees - it is a directive, not an order.

It is semantics, but BIG difference.

[National Acrobat]

My bad. The local news were reporting it as such. Still, it will help. This was an entirely unnecessary act as far as the AG was concerned, and was politically motivated. In essence, the Governor is stating as such. We don't need any more laws here. The Governor is reiterating that the Universities can continue to do as they have been. We shouldn't have even gotten to this point in the first place.

There was a great editorial in this Sunday's local paper that discussed the Powers that Universities have been given by the General Assembly, and it's basically a short blurb. One thing that was pointed out in the Editorial was that the Universities haven't been given the specific authority to authorize Athletic Departments, namely football programs that bring in lots of money and national attention, and perhaps the AG should remind the Universities about that, and immediately cancel all athletic functions, which prompted him to say it isn't the same thing, but even people in his own party admitted that it was indeed.

Sadly my state is getting all sorts of bad attention thanks to a politically inept AG.

[Farmboy]

Well, it is true that, in order to have any "protected class", there must be legislation. Bullying laws and hate crime laws depend on clear definitions of which people fall into the areas of protection. In the long run, it is probably for the best that the haters try to justify their hatred in the public arena so we can have it out with them and get these definitions in place.

[HockeyGod]

Sadly my state is getting all sorts of bad attention thanks to a politically inept AG.

Trust me, we all have to take a turn at being the butt of jokes in the U.S. I come from a state that has Michelle Bachmann who believes that Jesus told her to run for Congress.

[thebobmaster]

Trust me, we all have to take a turn at being the butt of jokes in the U.S. I come from a state that has Michelle Bachmann who believes that Jesus told her to run for Congress.

Try being from the state with the Governator. Seriously, we have been a running joke for the last 8 years. Or however long Ahnold has been in office.