Virginia: As Homophobic As They Wanna Be

Careful readers of this blog may realize that I currently live in California and Virginia (Los Angeles and Arlington County, respectively). Anyway, so these days I am paying more careful attention to what goes on in the Virginia legislature, especially as it affects "teh gays."

This little news nugget at Joe.My.God struck my eye. A Virginia legislative committee rejected a bil which would have outlawed discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation. Last November Republicans seized control of the Virginia Senate (there are equal number of Democrats and Republicans but the Lieutenant Governor is a Republican and he can break ties) and anti-gay public policy is one consequence:

Reflecting the recent switch from Democratic to Republican control of the Virginia Senate, a bill aimed at prohibiting discrimination in state hiring on the basis of sexual orientation was defeated today.

The Senate General Laws and Technology Committee rejected Sen. Adam Ebbin’s bill,SB263, on an 8-7 party-line vote.

A similar measure was passed by the Senate last year when it had a Democratic majority, only to be defeated in the Republican-led House of Delegates. Republicans won effective control of the Senate in the November election.

Really? In 2012 when lots of other states are talking about enacting marriage equality (which has majority public support among Americans nationally in polls) and most people already think it is illegal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation and upwards of 70% support laws to ban anti-gay discrimination, the Virginia legislature is continuing the homophobic status quo.

And, that, basically tell you all you need to know about Virginia!