Thursday, February 18, 2010

Bob McDonnell: Rights a Wrong in State Policy


Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, has good news about Virginia's new pro-family Governor.

McDonnell Gets off on the Right Foot

New Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) is winning over new fans after a long pro-family draught in the Commonwealth. Setting himself even farther apart from liberal predecessor Tim Kaine, Gov. McDonnell is shaking things up in the state, starting with a decision to strip special rights for homosexuals under Virginia's anti-discrimination policy. To the dismay of groups like the Human Rights Campaign, the Governor righted a wrong in the state's policy by specifically removing "sexual orientation" from the list of protected classes in the workforce. During his campaign, Gov. McDonnell said that Democrats had overstepped their bounds by including it in their previous executive orders. He made good on the promise by eliminating the niche for Virginia's LGBT crowd on February 10. In other good news, word leaked out last month that the Defense Department was considering a major policy change to its teacher program that would have made yet another dent in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The DOD's Education Activity branch tried to institute a policy that domestic partners would be treated like married couples when they applied for joint transfers. Essentially, they wouldn't be separated when the job moved them to new school districts. On Friday, officials squashed the idea, releasing a statement that federal benefits have to be consistent with "federal laws"--a fact that seems completely lost on our President.