Virginia Senate backs bill to add sexual orientation to anti-discrimination policy

[Blue_Tires]

The Virginia Senate today passed an anti-discrimination bill that would add sexual orientation to existing anti-discrimination policies in state hiring.

The vote for Senate Bill 66, sponsored by Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, was 23-17, with each of the chamber’s 22 Democratic senators supporting the legislation, and every Republican but one—Sen. Fred Quayle of Suffolk—voting against it.

The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled House of Delegates, where it is likely to be defeated.

The vote was a response to the decision by Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, to not issue an executive order that includes sexual orientation in the state’s anti-discrimination policy. Both of McDonnell’s Democratic predecessors, Govs. Mark R. Warner and Timothy M. Kaine, had issued executive orders on the issue.

The McDonnell administration had argued that existing law already protected prospective applicants and said that an executive order to the effect would be overstepping the governor’s authority.

McDonnell said last week that Kaine’s executive order against discrimination remains in effect but for the part on sexual orientation.

McDonnell’s administration has suggested the matter should be taken up by the legislature, which has the authority to make and change laws. Saying he was taking McDonnell at his word, McEachin advanced the bill. “The time has come,“ he said. “It’s the right thing to do and the right time to do it.“

http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/state_regional/govtpolitics/article/virginia_senate_backs_bill_to_add_sexual_orientation_to_anti-discrimination/17792/