PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD  |  WHERE TO FIND THE BLADE    |   WASHBLADE ON MYSPACE    |   RSS THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008 
  Please login or create a new account  ?
HOME
CLASSIFIEDS
AUTO GUIDE

THE LATEST
BLADEWIRE
BLADEBLOG
BLOGWATCH
 ELECTION '08
NEWS
 LOCAL
 NATIONAL
 WORLD NEWS
 VIEWPOINT
 ENTERTAINMENT
 ECLIPSE
 OUT IN DC
 CALENDARS
 2008 PRIDE GUIDE
 FITNESS BY GENRE
 BITCH SESSION













EMAIL UPDATES
New to email
updates? Then click here to find out more.
email address

subscribe
unsubscribe
I have read and agree to our terms
and conditions
.


ADVERTISING
GENERAL INFO
E-EDITION
MARKETING

ABOUT US
ABOUT THE BLADE
MASTHEAD
EMPLOYMENT

 

 

 


Many gay activists have accused Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore in the past of being anti-gay. His office, however, has issued a statement saying staff will not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.


MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR
JOE CREA


MORE INFO

MORE INFO
Virginia Partisans Gay & Lesbian Democratic Club
P.O. Box 6243
Arlington, VA 22206-0243
www.vapartisans.org

Log Cabin Republican Club of Virginia
P.O. Box 16611
Alexandria, VA 22302
www.valogcabin.org






Printer-friendly Version

Letter to the Editor

Sound Off about this article






 
 

MORE LOCAL

Baltimore police say gay man killed by own gang
Defendents found 'gay' text messages on victim's phone

Library of Congress trans bias trial begins
ACLU is representing Diane Schroer

Devotion to Obama, Clinton sends locals to Denver
12 gay delegates from region head to convention

‘I really didn’t think it would happen to me’
Younger gays infected with HIV underestimated seriousness of disease

Hill vote on D.C. gun law alarms gay activists
Some fear conservatives are usurping home rule, would overturn marriage bill

Local news in brief
Pannell trails in funds raised in D.C. shadow Senate race

Police log


LOCAL

Nearly half of Va. politicians sign on to pro-gay pledge
Gov. Warner supports non-discrimination effort by gay groups

JOE CREA
Friday, October 10, 2003

RICHMOND | Nearly half of Virginia’s General Assembly, along with politicians including the governor and attorney general, have signed pledges or made policy statements affirming that they will not discriminate in their legislative offices on the basis of sexual orientation.

In a collaborative effort, Equality Virginia, Log Cabin Republican Club of Virginia and the Virginia Partisans Gay & Lesbian Democratic Club, issued the non-discrimination pledges to all 140 General Assembly members — 40 Senators and 100 House members — as well as to members of the executive branch.

Gov. Mark Warner (D), Lt. Governor Tim Kaine (D) and Attorney General Jerry Kilgore (R) signed the pledges or issued policy statements opposing anti-gay discrimination.

Additionally, 14 Democrats and six Republicans in the Senate and 20 Republicans and 23 Democrats in the General Assembly signed the pledge stating that they will not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Presently, neither federal nor Virginia state law prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

“We were trying to get a good baseline going by contacting these politicians,” said Dyana Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia. “Many conservative Republicans and Democrats signed the pledge and these are folks who we have not had much of a relationship with in the past. We hope that this effort will open up a dialogue with some of these folks.”

David Lampo, president of the Log Cabin Republican Club of Virginia said he was pleased that a high number of Republicans agreed to sign the pledge — especially those in leadership positions — and said that it is an example of a change in Virginia’s political climate.

“Our state is certainly more culturally conservative than other states,” Lampo said. “We always knew that but even in Virginia, 21st century values are starting to work their way down to the grass roots. If you see greater acceptance of gays and lesbians in the culture, it will become more routine to live and work with gays and lesbians. We are just a much more inclusive society than we were 10 years ago.”

Lampo said he was very pleased that Attorney General Kilgore’s office issued a statement saying that his office does not discriminate. Gay men and lesbians have criticized Kilgore in the past, claiming he is anti-gay.

“It’s certainly nice to see that now, employment non-discrimination is a bad thing and we hope that [Kilgore] will use this opportunity to be more outspoken about employment discrimination in the government,” said Josh Israel, president of the Virginia Partisans Gay & Lesbian Democratic Club. “And we hope in the future that he would allow localities to decide themselves not to discriminate as he didn’t when he issued his advisory opinion in Fairfax. But we do welcome him to the right side on this issue.”

Israel said political leaders in Virginia are realizing that discrimination does not play well with the average voter.

“The vast majority of Virginians do not support discrimination in employment,” Israel said.


Virginia non-discrimination commitments (as of October 2003)

Virginia Senate
District/Senator/Party
3 Thomas Norment R
5 Yvonne Miller D
7 Frank Wagner R
9 Benjamin Lambert D
10 John Watkins R
11 Stephen Martin R
16 Henry Marsh III D
17 Edd Houck D
18 Louise Lucas D
20 Roscoe Reynolds D
21 John Edwards D
25 Creigh Deeds D
27 Russell Potts R
28 John Chichester R (Senate president pro tempore; finance chair)
30 Patricia Ticer D
31 Mary Margaret Whipple D (Senate Dem. caucus chair)
32 Janet Howell D
34 Leslie Byrne D
35 Richard Saslaw D (Senate Dem. leader)
36 Toddy Puller D

Total: 20 (14 Dems, 6 GOP)

Virginia House of Delegates
8 Morgan Griffith R (House majority leader)
10 Ward Armstrong D
11 Clifton Woodrum D
12 Jim Shuler D
14 Danny Marshall R
15 Allen Louderback R
17 A. Victor Thomas D
23 Preston Bryant R
26 Glenn Weatherholtz R
34 Vince Callahan R (appropriations chair)
35 Jeannemarie Devolites R (majority whip)
36 Kenneth Plum D
37 JC Petersen D
38 Bob Hull D
39 Vivian Watts D
41 Jim Dillard R (education chair)
42 David Albo R
43 Tom Bolvin R
44 Kristen Amundsen D
45 Marian Van Landingham D
46 Brian Moran D (House Dem. caucus chair)
47 James Almand D
48 Bob Brink D
49 Karen Darner D
50 Harry Parrish R (finance chair)
51 Michele McQuigg R
53 James Scott D
55 Frank Hargrove R
57 Mitchell Van Yahres D
63 Fenton Bland D
64 William Barlow D
69 Franklin Hall D (House minority leader)
71 Viola Baskerville D
74 Floyd Miles D
81 Terrie Suit R
82 Bob Purkey R
83 Leo Wardrup R (House Rep. caucus chair)
85 Bob Tata R
86 Thomas Rust R
87 Thelma Drake R
89 Kenneth Alexander D
95 Flora Crittenden D
98 Harvey Morgan R (commerce & labor chair)

Total: 43 (23 Dem., 20 GOP)
(Note: Del. Almand signed before his resignation to take a judicial post. The 47th District is currently vacant)

 

email   password
The following comments were posted by our readers and were not edited by the Washington Blade.  We ask that you treat others with respect; any post deemed offensive will be removed.


 

national | local | world | arts | classifieds | real estate | about us

© 2008 | A Window Media LLC Publication | Privacy Policy