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By: Olympia Meola
Published: March 10, 2010 12:34 PM
Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico, stood on the House of Delegates floor today and called upon Gov. Bob McDonnell to send a bill to the General Assembly before it adjourns on Saturday to add sexual orientation as a protected class in the state code.
The request was then echoed in a speech by Del. David L. Englin, D-Alexandria, who said Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s “anti-gay crusade” could “risk thousands of good paying jobs in Virginia” or even the accreditation of the colleges and universities.
This week, the House refused to act on a bill tabled in subcommittee that would have added to the state code sexual orientation as a protected class.
Today’s floor speeches come in response to Cuccinelli’s recent opinion that gays cannot be included in state anti-discrimination policies.
The attorney general says Virginia’s colleges and universities cannot prohibit discrimination against gays because the General Assembly has not authorized them to do so.
He said the General Assembly has defined protected classes on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, age, marital status or disability, but “on numerous occasions considered and rejected creating a protected class on the basis of sexual orientation.”
McDonnell, who served as attorney general prior to becoming governor, determined in 2006 that an executive order by then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine barring sexual orientation discrimination was unconstitutional because the General Assembly had not authorized it.
Unlike his immediate two predecessors as governor, Mark R. Warner and Kaine, McDonnell did not issue an executive order specifically barring sex discrimination.
In a letter sent last week to the presidents, rectors and boards of visitors of Virginia public colleges, Cuccinelli said the recipients must consider the letter “as the opinion and advice” of the office of Attorney General. And he said those colleges or universities that have included sexual orientation in their policies acted without proper authority and those policies are invalid.
In response to Cuccinelli’s opinion, McDonnell’s spokesman, Tucker Martin said “The legal analysis contained in the letter concerning the General Assembly’s sole responsibility for setting state employment policy is consistent with all prior opinions from the Office of the Attorney General over the last 25 years on the subject.
He added: “The Governor expects that no Virginia college or university, or any other state agency, will engage in discrimination of any kind. The Governor will not tolerate discrimination in the Administration and his official written employment policy for the Office of the Governor expressly forbids discrimination on any basis other than qualification and merit.”
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