The newly-elected McDonnell, governor here in Virginia, has finally issued his executive non-bias order, and it removes language inserted by previous governor Kaine that protected employees (or potential employees) from being fired (or not hired) on the simple basis of their sexual orientation.
Okay, here’s the deal: I don’t get this. I don’t understand his reasoning. Beyond his own personal agenda, I can find no justification. The above linked article quotes McDonnell’s spokesperson:
Upon review of that Executive Order, the Administration determined that some changes needed to be made to ensure compliance with state law. Those changes have been made, and this has resulted in the issuance of a new Executive Order on the subject.
Is this deliberately vague? It makes no mention of what state law the clause was not in “compliance” with.
Look, this clause was added by Kaine to make the various entities run by the state accountable for their firing practices. It doesn’t state that you cannot fire a gay person, but simply that you cannot fire them only because they’re gay. Now that this is removed, gay employees are left at the mercy of their boss and his or her views on their orientation. If said boss is bothered by a particular employee’s orientation enough to fire that person, this is no longer a problem. It’s legal.
It seems to me that any such “non-bias” order should be unnecessary, as an employee should only be fired for reasons related to their job performance. To me, that’s all the order should state, as it includes everyone, and disallows any firing based on matters not related to job performance. BUT, if we are indeed going to have an order that specifically lays out all the reasons that one may not fire someone (which McDonnell obviously thinks we should, as he just signed one), then we need to include them all! Equal protection under the law, and all that jazz.
Whether someone falls into the category of being LGBT has absolutely no impact on their ability to perform a duty, just like race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or whether they have a disability. If they cannot do the job, it is not because of any of these issues.
You are letting your personal beliefs (impacted by your religion) influence your governance, McDonnell. This isn’t right, it isn’t constitutional, and until you provide a clear explanation regarding your actions, this is what I’m forced to believe.
