Va. House Defeats Employment Protection for Gay State Workers

From Advocate.com:

"A Virginia house of delegates subcommittee Tuesday killed legislation aimed at banning job discrimination against gay state employees.

The nondiscrimination bill, sponsored by Democratic senator Donald McEachin, was proposed after new Republican governor Bob McDonnell issued an executive order that banned job discrimination based on a variety of characteristics but did not cover sexual orientation; McDonnell said that was a matter for the legislature. Two previous administrations had protected gays against bias in state employment, according to the Associated Press.

The senate had passed the bill, but the house subcommittee rejected it in an unrecorded show-of-hands vote."

The fact is, nobody here in Va. expected this to make it through the House of Delegates, even though it sailed through the senate. The press conference called yesterday by Equality Virginia didn't really set out to do anything more than call attention to Virginia's back woods bigotry, and that's what it accomplished.

Virginians, straight and gay, believe that the battle for LGBT equality here ended with the Marriage Amendment in 2006, which was nothing more than a ploy by the Va. GOP to exploit the homophobia of their base and get out the vote.

It's been an uphill battle motivating anyone to get involved in the fight or to even get them to give a shit about their own rights. There are a few of us that keep fighting, but you can't force people to care when all they seem interested in is partying in the clubs and hooking up.


If you are the exception to the rule and want to get involved and fight for your rights, join us Wednesday night, March 3rd at our monthly Roanoke Equality meeting at the Metropolitan Community Church, 806 Jamison in Roanoke at 7:30 p.m.

We need your input. We need your voice. We need your ideas. Join us.