Patters

Think Progress Virginia attorney general instructs state colleges to stop protecting gay students from discrimination.

In VA, a state where Republicans are generally considered moderate, the Republican governor, "Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) refused to renew an executive order that would have protected gay and lesbian state workers from discrimination." And now, "Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is asking the state’s colleges and universities 'to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.'"

“It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including ’sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ ‘gender expression,’ or like classification as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy absent specific authorization from the General Assembly,” he wrote. Colleges that have included such language in their policies — which include all of Virginia’s leading schools — have done so “without proper authority” and should “take appropriate actions to bring their policies in conformance with the law and public policy of Virginia,” Cuccinelli wrote.

PatsFanInVa

Pretty grim if you ask me.

Virginia has long had one value that is antithetical to its historically republican attitudes, and that is a culture of superior, widely affordable post-secondary education. The "public ivies" in the Virginia system competed at a level approaching the most enviable private schools, at a price that real families can afford. You can't get in "Bones" by going to a Virginia school, I suppose, but the actual academics of a UVA or a William and Mary are pretty rigorous -- More like the Ann Arbor model than the Penn State model.

To effectively announce that one of the jewels of the state, the post-secondary education system, is now a tool for exclusionary policy paints an ugly picture, not just for gays/lesbians/bisexual/transgender individual, but for any fair-minded individual who happens to be straight.

If I'm 19 and astute enough to know that the body parts I prefer in a partner are pretty well determined for me prior to when I become sexually active, I can easily see the unfairness of legal discrimination against those whose orientation is different from mine.

If I see a place that can provide a good education, but announces "oh yes, but we will discriminate against gays/lesbians/etc., it's just the way it is," I'll look at that as pretty much the same thing as announcing "It's a very good school, and one great aspect is we keep the darkies in their place."

It's an ugly stain on the state's education system, one that I hope is removed as soon as possible. It's time.

PFnV

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

I'm not surprised. Va. is one of the few states where it is technically illegal to live with a member of the opposite sex whom you are not married to.

Wolfpack

This is wonderful news. It is nice to see politicians who actually reflect community standards and refuse to cowtow to special interest groups seeking special advantages and benefits.

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

Protecting someone, anyone, from discrimination hardly seems like a special advantage or benefit, does it?

Wolfpack

Of course not, but as anyone who follows politics is well aware, these sorts of things are about setting up special rights, favors and protections for certain groups above everyone else. Whether we are talking about hiring quotas or hate laws, it is about making sure some people are more equal than others.

Harry Boy

Does that go for Sarah Palin and her family also............

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

Nikolai

LOL, as if it's enforced. Every state has archaic, asinine laws still on the books.

In any case, this is rather moronic of the governor et al but let's be realistic here. This has a near zero chance of becoming reality. Virginia has become "independent voter central" lately and those guys could kiss those votes goodbye if they push too hard. They'll fall in line.

sdaniels7114

If that's what the people want in their schools let them have it. I happen to think having outstanding schools in a region is a major plus for that region and wouldn't want to do anything to drive the very few exceptional minds out there away.

In the end this just means it'll be that many more really gifted people settling here in Boston and other places that understand that certain people do have things a bit tougher than the rest of us.

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Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank, give a man a bank and he can rob everyone.

PatsFanInVa

Unfortunately, sdaniels, Massachusetts is not renowned for its state schools. Harvard and MIT aren't your local equivalent. UMass is, such as it is.

Here are your "public ivies" - you'll note 2 of the original 10 are in Virginia, none in Mass, where one buys one's prestige.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_ivies

Nothing against the really top-notch schools, sd, but Mass. does not put the same emphasis on public support of post-secondary education, and it shows.

PFnV