Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion, Society

Virginia Is For [Straight] Lovers: Virginia Attorney General Orders Colleges and Universities To Lift Ban on Discrimination Against Gays and Lesbians

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has not wasted time carrying out his conservative social agenda. He has sent a letter to the state’s public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation — advising them that they have no authority to ban such discrimination.

Cuccinelli (R) told the colleges and universities that only the General Assembly can extend legal protections to gay state employees, students and others. The letter states: “It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth 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.”

This could result in a serious confrontation between the state and the schools.

For the full story, click here.

107 thoughts on “Virginia Is For [Straight] Lovers: Virginia Attorney General Orders Colleges and Universities To Lift Ban on Discrimination Against Gays and Lesbians”

  1. At the risk of being severely chastised, is it possible to think he is doing this because our civil rights laws and the Constitution already protect individuals from improper treatment?

    For example I use a wheelchair but I don’t think the ADA really does much for me except those great curb cuts. If someone gives me a hard time as far as denying me employment I already have redress. Why do I need additional rights that someone not in a wheelchair doesn’t have? Aren’t we all supposed to be considered equal under the law to begin with?

    If gay and lesbian students are discriminated against dont they have the freedom to take it to court?

    Now if Cuccinelli said that gays and lesbians are not able to petition the court and they are somehow less than a citizen, then he should be removed from office.

  2. anon nurse–

    These were the parts I adapted from the Niemoller quote I found on the Internet:

    Then they came for the gays and lesbians, and I did not speak out–
    Because I was not gay or lesbian.

    Then they came for the atheists, and I did not speak out–
    Because I was not an atheist.

    Then they came for the liberals, and I did not speak out–Because I was not a liberal.

    Then they came for the people with brains, and I did not speak out–
    Because I didn’t have a brain.

  3. A barbarism only matched by it’s toothlessness.

    Methinks he doth protest overmuch. I do not know any straight men who are actually straight that go on and on and on about the gay, though they cannot stop talking about it, thinking about it, authoring caustic diatribes, fixating on that other guy’s round hairy caboose and its militant agenda, so free, so bold, jutting out maddeningly so…one does not get worked up like this over that which does not touch one in some way.

    Poor schmuck. Deep disappointment awaits; this is not where the country is headed.

    Unless we elect Sarah Palin to anything but Occupier of the Cone of Silence.

    66% of folks 18-39 still support the Big O and they will not permit this nonsense. Anti-gayism is mostly generational, so the advice can only be, grow up.

  4. I note with interest that the Virginia Employment Commission adopts this language in its anti-discrimination policy:

    “It is the policy of the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) to provide equal opportunity in employment to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color,
    religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation , or political affiliation. The policy permits appropriate employment preferences for veterans and specifically prohibits discrimination against veterans.”

    Quick! Ken get down there right now with your “equal protection” eraser!

  5. anon nurse wrote:

    “…we’re in fact dealing with a much more serious problem…”

    I agree and the name of that more serious problem is the cancers of conservative and religious driven politics still infecting on feeding on the body of our democracy while it’s trying to heal. Those twin tumors are bent on the destruction of the healthy body of small “d” democracy as it doesn’t fit into their royalist, elitist or monarchist model.

  7. People in Virginia will support any wingnut with any agenda against any group as long as their taxes don’t go up.

    This is one crazy place!

  8. Thanks AY for the “full original copy” of the Serenitiy Prayer.

    And the song “Keep on Smilin'” comes to mind.

  9. Elaine,

    You wrote: “I’m not so sure about the evil.”

    I am. And I wish I weren’t… (Thank you for posting the Niemoller quote.)

  10. Given what I’m seeing, Elaine M. has it right. Though it may seem that this is just a matter of one AG who “needs to go”, we’re in fact dealing with a much more serious problem.

    The Niemoller quote is one that we all need to keep in mind. What he describes is, in fact, happening here, though in a somewhat different fashion. Most aren’t seeing it yet, because the criminal activity, harassment, “political manipulation”, etc. are taking place “below the radar” of most/many.

    Mespo, you wrote: “Niemoller’s words were applied to a ruthless gang of criminals adept at political manipulation and extortion.” This is exactly what’s taking place here in these United States — we’re in a world of trouble. No exaggeration. These things don’t start all at once — they creep up on us, as Niemoller accurately stated.

    I’m not a legal scholar — I’m an ordinary person. And what I’m seeing is a creeping, insidious “movement” that needs to be exposed. Believe me, the folks who are involved in the activities to which I’m referring have “the requisite cunning”, and then some. And they’re most certainly evil.

    (I’m not saying that this AG is involved in the activities to which I’ve alluded — I don’t know. But he’s certainly contributing, in his own way.)

  11. Maybe we can all get along with this:

    Serenity Prayer

    God grant me the serenity
    to accept the things I cannot change;
    courage to change the things I can;
    and wisdom to know the difference.

    But then again there are people like me and we like to complicate things and know the full story.

    The Full Original Copy of the Serenity Prayer
    by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

    God, give us grace to accept with serenity
    the things that cannot be changed,
    Courage to change the things
    which should be changed,
    and the Wisdom to distinguish
    the one from the other.

    Living one day at a time,
    Enjoying one moment at a time,
    Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
    Taking, as Jesus did,
    This sinful world as it is,
    Not as I would have it,
    Trusting that You will make all things right,
    If I surrender to Your will,
    So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
    And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

    Amen.

    http://www.thevoiceforlove.com/serenity-prayer.html

    Elaine I am sure you could add to and even make the above more comprehensive and even more eloquent.

    FYI, AA has been granted the right to use this without compensation to the original copyright holder. It is my understanding that 1/2 of all royalty’s are split between the family and AA.

    Of course I could not leave out WIKI.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer

  13. mespo–

    I’m not so sure about the evil. There are plenty of people here spewing prejudice and hatred–and lots of folks are listening. We also have lots of crazy right-wing militia and hate groups.

    “A difference by several orders of magnitude from those Teutonic barbarians.”

    To be sure, “Dolts, hucksters, and demagogues” in the US may not have the same kind of power–but I think we have plenty of folks in our country who can be just as barbaric. Think KKK, the lynching of Black people, and the killing of civil rights workers. That was decades ago–but just rub under the surface a little. Remember Matthew Shepard? Or the Black man who was dragged to death in Texas a few years ago?

  15. Elaine M:

    Niemoller’s words were applied to a ruthless gang of criminals adept at political manipulation and extortion. What we have here is the priesthood-that-couldn’t-shoot-straight. Dolts, hucksters, and demagogues for sure, but decidedly not evil with the requisite cunning to be so considered. A difference by several orders of magnitude from those Teutonic barbarians.

  16. Maybe we should begin thinking about adapting the words of Martin Niemoller’s famous quote to include some other groups:

    First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out–
    Because I was not a Socialist.

    Then they came for the gays and lesbians, and I did not speak out–
    Because I was not gay or lesbian.

    Then they came for the atheists, and I did not speak out–
    Because I was not an atheist.

    Then they came for the liberals, and I did not speak out–Because I was not a liberal.

    Then they came for the people with brains, and I did not speak out–
    Because I didn’t have a brain.

    Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.

  17. AY:

    You’re right AY. This is a toothless gesture designed to appease the Roger Chillingworth’s among us. Federal law protects gay students under Title IX. The US Department of Education issued the following guideline in 2001:

    “Although Title IX does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, [13] sexual harassment directed at gay or lesbian students that is sufficiently serious to limit or deny a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the school’s program constitutes sexual harassment prohibited by Title IX …”

    “Also, under certain circumstances, courts may permit redress for harassment on the basis of sexual orientation under other Federal legal authority. See Nabozny v. Podlesny, 92 F.3d 446, 460 (7th Cir. 1996) (holding that a gay student could maintain claims alleging discrimination based on both gender and sexual orientation under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution in a case in which a school district failed to protect the student to the same extent that other students were protected from harassment and harm by other students due to the student’s gender and sexual orientation).” (fn 14)

    Somebody should tell our Attorney General about the manifest public policy of the United States,existing federal case law constituting exposure to the State for discrimination claims, and the Supremacy Clause. All foreign concepts it seems.

  18. Will this not have a serious impact on Higher Ed funding and financial aide? I do believe that if they accept federal and state funds they cannot discriminate against anyone particular group to the exclusion of others.

  19. Well, Ken has now shown that under his worsted wool 130’s are the robes of a bishop. No real surprise here to anyone following the election, but, as usual, the reflexive cafeteria conservatives around these parts will find, to their utter amazement, that they elected another theocrat carrying Holy Water for Robertson, et religiosos. Lincoln was right when he said that “you can’t fool all of the people all of the time,” but apparently you can fool enough non-critical thinkers (read that as those willing to accept things because some authority from the first century says they should) to win an election. Voters in the majority get the government they richly deserve.

  20. “It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth 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.”

    It is my advice that as an AG you don’t have the right to determine ipso facto the Constitutionality of your prime facie discriminatory action. Anti-discrimination laws are a minimal threshold and there is no problem with an institution, state sponsored or no, going beyond that threshold.

    You might as well just held up a big sign that says “I’m a homophobic Nazi.”

    See you in court.

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