….with the younger generation. The vast majority of Americans under the age of 30 do not care one bit about conservative fearmongering concerning gay marriage and “special rights” for gays. Indeed, they support a wild notion that there should be equality for all. And just when you think the GOP was leaving the socially conservative wedge issues behind and embracing populism, Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) opened his bigoted mouth.
[Cuccinelli] has urged the state’s public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, arguing in a letter sent to each school that their boards of visitors had no legal authority to adopt such statements. In his most aggressive initiative on conservative social issues since taking office in January, Cuccinelli (R) wrote in the letter sent Thursday that only the General Assembly can extend legal protections to gay state employees, students and others — a move the legislature has repeatedly declined to take as recently as this week. […]
Cuccinelli’s move has dismayed students and faculty members. It suggests that Cuccinelli intends to take a harder line with the state’s university system, where liberal academics have long coexisted uneasily with state leaders in Richmond. […]
Colleges that have included such language in policies that govern university hiring and admissions — which include all of Virginia’s largest schools — have done so “without proper authority” and should “take appropriate actions to bring their policies in conformance with the law and public policy of Virginia,” Cuccinelli wrote. […]
“What he’s saying is reprehensible,” said Vincent F. Callahan Jr., a former Republican member of the House of Delegates who serves on George Mason’s board of visitors. “I don’t know what he’s doing, opening up this can of worms.”
I understand the point that the Virginia General Assembly has not passed a law like Delaware’s anti-discrimination law. But that does not and should not mean that Virginia’s colleges and universities must discriminate against gays and lesbians, which is what Cuccinelli is basically saying. He is saying it is not illegal in Virginia to discriminate against gays and lesbians, so the colleges and universities in Virginia should have at it, discriminate to their hearts’ content. This proactive action in the form of his direct advice in that letter reveals this. He could have simply let sleeping dogs lie. But I suppose it was not enough that gays and lesbians in Virginia are unprotected against discrimination in the work place and in their daily lives. He had to make sure gay and lesbian students knew their place as well.
Seriously, what is with conservatives and their hatred of homosexuality? Unless and until the GOP deals with this demon, the future outlook demographically for the GOP is disastrous. Yeah, they have got the haters now, but when they die off, and they will, they got no one.