Virginia Race for Governor: WASHINGTON POST Rejects Retro ROBERT McDONNELL On [non] Equal Rights!
Nancing Prancer
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Editorial
"Fighting Bias in Virginia"
"On gay rights, both candidates' views have evolved -- Mr. Deeds's
more convincingly than Mr. McDonnell's"
Friday, September 18, 2009
ROBERT F. McDONNELL, the Republican candidate for governor in
Virginia, says his erstwhile view that homosexuality is, like drug
abuse, an evil that "government must restrain, punish, and deter" has
changed since he wrote that in his now-notorious dissertation 20 years
ago. State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate, has
referred to himself as a "work in progress" on issues pertaining to
sexual orientation, having campaigned against the state's
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage -- but only after he
voted to put it on the ballot.
Both men profess to have evolved when it comes to issues regarding
sexual orientation, as many Americans have. That implies at least some
recognition by both candidates that society's treatment of gay people
is a critical civil rights question -- maybe the critical one of this
era.
However, a closer examination of their records suggests that Mr.
Deeds's evolution is the more comprehensive. By contrast, Mr.
McDonnell's shift, if there is a shift at all, has been modest and
relatively recent. Although he says he opposes bias on grounds of
sexual orientation, he will not commit to backing legislation that
would expand the state's nondiscrimination policy to cover gay
individuals. As a lawmaker representing Virginia Beach for 14 years,
Mr. McDonnell consistently opposed legislation backed by the gay
community. He voted against a bill, strongly supported by business
groups, to let employers offer benefits to their employees' unmarried
partners, gay or straight. He voted to screen prospective parents for
"voluntary homosexual activity" before they could adopt a child. He
voted for the Marriage Affirmation Act, which prohibits Virginia law
from recognizing out-of-state civil unions. He voted to amend
Virginia's constitution to prohibit civil unions as well as same-sex
marriages.
As attorney general in 2006, Mr. McDonnell rendered an opinion saying
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) had acted unconstitutionally by issuing an
executive order expanding Virginia's nondiscrimination policy to ban
bias against gays in state hiring and employment; that power, he said,
was the legislature's, not the executive's. On similar grounds, he
argued that local governments could not include sexual orientation in
their nondiscrimination policies. Several jurisdictions, including
Alexandria, Charlottesville and Williamsburg, ignored him.
In the past few years, Mr. McDonnell has modified his stance in a few
instances. Having previously backed the constitutional amendment
banning same-sex marriage, in 2006 he issued an opinion stating that
the amendment would not interfere with contracts, wills, medical
directives and other agreements, and that it would not affect
Virginia's domestic violence laws. That allowed police to handle
domestic violence calls for gay couples just as they are handled for
straight couples. The following year, he issued an opinion giving the
green light to the University of Virginia to extend gym membership
privileges to the partners and roommates of unmarried students and
employees -- including same-sex couples.
Mr. Deeds's record, confined to his votes in the state Senate, is more
limited. However, his voting history has been generally more favorable
to gay rights, including backing bills in recent years to allow local
governments to extend health coverage to partners of their gay
employees. In 2005, he supported the bill, which Mr. McDonnell
opposed, to let businesses grant benefits to employees' unmarried
partners, gay and straight. And following Mr. McDonnell's opinion, as
attorney general, opposing Mr. Kaine's nondiscrimination policy, Mr.
Deeds was a patron of legislation to ban bias based on sexual
orientation in state employment.
That bill failed but remains a top priority of gay rights groups that
reasonably seek to codify Mr. Kaine's nondiscrimination policy. Their
other legislative priority -- allowing businesses to offer benefits to
workers' gay and straight partners -- is equally sensible. Both would
stand a better chance of enactment with Mr. Deeds in the governor's
office.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/17/AR2009091703626.html
babeejm
>Read Robert McCartney's article in The Washington Post today..
where he states that Deeds stumbled in last night's NOVA governor's
debate.
Jesus'sPedoBoy
still steamin' over the state's rejection of George "Macaca" Allen for
senate in favor of Jim Webb.
Now, the Repug rube dumb'uns are itchin' to revert to Ol' Virginny,
when religious-freakdom and segregation and lynching were considered
perfectly acceptable.
So, barring a big upset, Pat Robertson disciple and proud graduate of
Pat's law school, Bogus Bob McDonnell, will be the state's next
governor.
minerva
That is a lot of garbage. Even though mcdonnell is ahead in the polls,
i suspect the dems will try to pull this out by some dirty political
tricks. If I could vote for mcdonnell it would be to hand obama and his
socialist marxists a great big defeat, and if mcdonnell wins, it will be
a victory for democracy over tyranny of the present democratic party and
its puppets. All we can hope for is for Obama and the congressional
dems to keep talking because lately all they have done is give the
people a true impression of how incompetent they are and a view of their
absolute power ploys to bankrupt the country with a huge debt. If
McDonnell wins it will mark the beginning of the end for the marxists in
the white house and congress, and in 2010- we will send them back to
whereever they started from, and in 2012, he goes back to moscow, as he
seems to prefer their old communism style of governing.