Bigotry Is For Lovers?
Two weeks ago, if you were LGBTQ and worked for the State of Virginia, you knew you could not be discriminated against for being gay. But two days later when you got to work, you weren’t so sure. Newly-sworn in Governor Bob McDonnell, the man introduced to most Americans the night he gave the Republican rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union Address, on February 5 signed an executive order which rescinds his predecessor’s anti-discrimination policy and removes the term “sexual orientation” from state policy.
In his response to President Obama, McDonnell stated,
“All Americans should have the opportunity to find and keep meaningful work, and the dignity that comes with it.
“Many of us here, and many of you watching, have family or friends who have lost their jobs.
“1 in 10 American workers is unemployed. That is unacceptable.
“Here in Virginia we have faced our highest unemployment rate in more than 25 years, and bringing new jobs and more opportunities to our citizens is the top priority of my administration.”
I wonder if he was thinking at that time of excluding gays from the equation?
TPMDC reports a spokesperson for McDonnell’s predecessor, Gov. Tim Kaine, stated,
“It says a lot about the Republican party that they would anoint as their ‘rising star’ someone who in 2010 is actually stripping away from Americans legal protections against discrimination. Bob McDonnell is proving his critics right. He said he’d focus on creating jobs, not social issues. But, one of his first acts as Governor was to make it easier for a fellow citizen to be denied a job and he did so as an adherent to a right-wing ideology that allows for such discriminatory behavior. McDonnell’s decision is just plain wrong in any context, but especially so in this economic climate.”
On his campaign website, McDonnell says, “To me, everything starts with family.” We can only imagine whose families he means, and what it ends with.