As one of his last acts as Governor of Virginia, Mark Warner (D) has amended an executive order to add sexual orientation as a protected category which is protected from discrimination in hiring by the state. His successor, Tim Kaine (D) has agreed to maintain the equal rights protections for LGB folk in his administration. Republican conservatives are complaining about both the process and principle which led to Warner's action.
Of course I disagree with the Republicans on principle, but I also disagree that LGB democrats should be praising Warner for enacting protections for LGB employees in state government at the end of his gubernatorial term instead of at the beginning. To me, the ambitious Southern governor is trying to have his cake and eat it, too. He can appear supportive to supporters of LGB rights, but he risks no political capital to do so. Meanwhile, there's been a huge amount of virulently anti-gay legislative activity in the last four years--what has the Governor been doing to reduce and tamp down this activity?
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