On March 4, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent a letter to Virginia’s public colleges and universities telling them they ought to allow discrimination against gays. (Because gay people don’t deserve employment or education, I guess.) Less than a week later, Governor Bob McDonnell issued an Executive Directive (which I apparently missed until today).
“Discrimination based on factors such as one’s sexual orientation or parental status violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution,” the new directive said in response to the letter.
“Therefore, discrimination against enumerated classes of persons set forth in the Virginia Human Rights Act or discrimination against any class of persons without a rational basis is prohibited.”
I love it…”without a rational basis is prohibited”. No one can offer a legitimate argument as to why sexual orientation is relevant to any public job. The only basis is bigotry and unqualified hatred.
But I’m torn. I can’t decide if the best part of this is the fact the equality is being enforced or if it’s Cuccinelli’s bitch slap reaction.
“I applaud Governor McDonnell for the tone he is setting for the Commonwealth of Virginia. I will remain in contact with the Governor and continue to work with him on issues important to Virginians,” Cuccinelli said. “I expect Virginia’s state employees to follow all state and federal anti-discrimination laws and will enforce Virginia’s laws to the fullest extent.”
“Because I don’t want to get fired.”
Okay, that whole equality jazz is always better, but there’s still a satisfaction in seeing a bigot’s views pushed to the side.
Filed under: News, Politics and Social | Tagged: Bob McDonnell, Discrimination, Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia | 1 Comment »
For the Sake of Science 