David Mixner Agrees: "A massive march on Richmond"

This morning I wrote about the despicable letter from Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli advising all of the commonwealth's colleges and universities that their workplace nondiscrimination policies for LGBT employees may be illegal. I said this morning that it is time for LGBT Virginians to stand up for our rights and march to the statehouse in Richmond and demand our God-given right to equal protection under the law. Tonight I am thrilled to tell you that LGBT civil rights leader David Mixner, the man that called on us all to march in the streets of Washington, DC  last October and demand that the president deliver on his promises to LGBT Americans, agrees with me.

From DavidMixner.com, "Virginia is for Haters":

Since 1969, Virginia's tourism slogan has been "Virginia is for Lovers." With the recent hostile and bigoted actions by its governor and attorney general, the bumpers stickers have to be changed to "Virginia is for Haters." Rarely have we ever seen such a systematic effort to re-establish discrimination against the LGBT community as official policy since the Republicans took over Virginia in the last election.

Mixner added, "If the new generation of activists created by Proposition 8 ever needed a target, this is it."

The former adviser to President Clinton pointed out that among the first things on Gov. McDonnell's To-Do list after being sworn into office was to issue Executive Order 6 (2010) which extends protection against discrimination in employment for statehouse workers with the deliberate omission of LGBT Virginians.

Much has been made of the executive order, due to the misconception that it was intended to protect all state workers. Leave it to McDonnell's chief henchman, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to not only clear up the misunderstanding, but in a letter to all of Virginia's public colleges and universities last week, he stated that  policies protecting LGBT employees from discrimination may in fact be illegal.

Mixner asks, "How in the world can we allow discrimination in our higher education institutions to once again become a way of life?"

Mixner points out, "People took jobs and moved families to teach at these institutions in order to live a free and open life only to see those protections stripped away. This a huge step backward for any state but for one that is just outside our nation's capital is just plain unacceptable."

In his daily post on his blog "Live From Hell's Kitchen", Mixner outlined an eleven point plan for direct action in Virginia, including a call for legal experts to work with Virginia's public colleges and universities to determine what legal actions, if any, can be taken against the attorney general.

Other ideas offered up include a call to national student organizations and education professionals, religious and political leaders to condemn Virginia's discriminatory policies. Mixner calls for student and faculty strikes on campuses were Cuccinelli's call to rescind LGBT employment protection is followed.


David Mixner urges students and professors looking for employment to avoid Virginia's institutions of higher learning until Cuccinelli's policy is done away with.

Mixner, who called us to action last year in an effort that became The National Equality March, again calls on the LGBT community everywhere in the US to descend upon the statehouse in Richmond, Virginia and demand that the Old Dominion get with the times and change our restrictive, outdated and bigoted laws to ensure that all Virginians receive fair and equal treatment under the law.

Finally, David Mixner urges us all to push congress to pass the Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA), so that even if Virginia refuses to join the rest of the civilized world in the 21st century, LGBT workers will have the full protection of federal law against discriminatory employment practices.

Read David Mixner's full article, "Virginia is for Haters" at DavidMixner.com. 

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