Governor Issues Directive Against Gay Discrimination

Governor McDonnell yesterday issued a directive saying workplace discrimination including bias against gays is prohibited in Virginia.

The Governor’s Directive comes as the outcry increased over Attorney General Cucinelli’s letter that state colleges and universities can’t have policies that ban discrimination against gays without a mandate from the legislature.

Tobias:  The Governor just needed to stop the hemorrhaging.

One thousand protestors took to the streets at VCU and hundreds more outside the General Assembly yesterday.

Tobias:  He needed to do something because I think it was just a bit of firestorm.

Carl Tobias, Law Professor at the University of Richmond.

Tobias:  The Governor wanted to be clear and have it at least in writing what the policy was from his perspective.

Tobias says the Governor could not give a stronger executive order, because he had advised against that very thing when he was attorney general. 

Tobias:  Though this is, I think, a victory for people who were rallying today and have been upset.

Meanwhile, legislative remedies seem unlikely this session. 

Charles Fishburne, WCVE News.

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