New Push in Virginia for Employment Non-Discrimination (for State Employees Only)

Northern Virginia Delegate, Adam Ebbin, has introduced HR 1493 in the Virginia House of Delegates. The text of the amendatory language reads as follows:

Employment discrimination prohibited.
No state agency, institution, board, bureau, commission, council, or instrumentality of the Commonwealth shall discriminate in employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or status as a special disabled veteran or other veteran covered by the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974, as amended.

"Sexual orientation" means a person's actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality, or gender identity or expression. This definition does not protect any person whose attraction is towards persons with whom sexual conduct would be illegal due to the age of the parties.

A similar bill failed to pass last year and I will not hold my breath waiting for passage this year. No doubt Victoria Cobb from Daddy Dobson's affiliate, The Family Foundation, will be shrieking and frothing at the mouth about the horrors of men in dresses and high heels running unchecked throughout Virginia's state government offices. Meanwhile, even if the bill passes into law, the rest of us non-state employees in Virginia are left to the often vicious and anti-gay whims of employers. Job performance, competence, and reliability all mean nothing if your employer turns out to be an anti-gay bigot. Such is life in the wonderful Commonwealth of Virginia.

My message to progressive employers - tell state officials and legislators that Virginia's anti-gay environment is barring them from relocating to or expanding operations in Virginia. While they love to kiss the ass of bigots like Ms. Cobb, the Virginia legislators love money even more.