Culhane: Virginia’s anti-gay merry-go-round

Have you been keeping up with the anti-gay merry-go-round in Virginia? Events have been spinning so fast that it’s not easy to do, but it’s a story worth discussing because of what it says about the state of our rights – not just in Virginia, but nationally.

A quick recap: Shortly …

Virginia gov candidate wrote anti-gay masters thesis

(Richmond, Va) Virginia’s Republican candidate for governor said Monday he no longer believes his argument in a graduate thesis written 20 years ago that discrimination against gays and other groups is acceptable for the benefit of straight, married couples.

Bob McDonnell’s research paper, first reported Sunday by The Washington Post, shakes …

Dems too gay for Liberty U

(Richmond, Virginia) Liberty University – the Virginia college founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell – has stripped its fledgling College Democrats club of official recognition, saying the party stands against the conservative Christian school’s moral principles.

Vice president of student affairs Mark Hine said in an e-mail to club President …

West Virginia rejects anti-gay amendment

(Charleston, West Virginia) A bid to advance an amendment to West Virginia’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage has failed.

Republicans and social conservatives had pushed the amendment, but it languished in a House committee.

Monday, Republican delegates attempted to drive the bill directly to the floor for a vote. The bid failed …

Yes, a straight man is leading a gay-rights group. So what?

We’re gonna be doing some things people haven’t seen before.”

That’s the plan from Jon Blair, the 31-year-old new chief executive officer of the gay-rights group Equality Virginia. He is an Indiana native who worked in Norfolk managing Sen. Ralph Northam’s campaign and as Del. Paula Miller’s director of field operations.

In the release earlier this month announcing Blair’s hiring, in the second paragraph from the bottom, is part of what people haven’t seen before: Blair is the first straight director of Equality Virginia and is thought to be the first straight director of any organization that falls under the national Equality Federation umbrella.

See Yes, a straight man is leading a gay-rights group. So what?
The Virginian-Pilot, VA