Virginia Schools to Bob and Ken: drop dead

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Anti-discriminatory bill passes

Student Council unanimously passed a resolution yesterday night to affirm its support for a fully inclusive non-discrimination policy and to urge the Board of Visitors, the Virginia General Assembly and U.S. Congress to pass legislation supporting protections “against discrimination in local, state, and federal employment based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”

This resolution was passed in tandem with the one-year anniversary of a hate crime against a gay student at the University.

Sending a clear signal

Sending a clear signal

The University and the Board of Visitors should heed Student Council’s advice and update their non-discrimination policies to include gender identity and expression

Lead Editorial / Opinion
April 22, 2010 3

In writing a letter advising Virginia public colleges and universities to strip references of sexual orientation from their non-discrimination policies, state Attorney General and University alumnus Ken Cuccinelli penned the platform student activists needed to convince their schools otherwise. Tuesday, Student Council unanimously passed a resolution to urge the University to reaffirm “its non-discrimination policy protection for sexual orientation and expand the policy to include gender identity and gender expression.” The resolution also solicits the Virginia General Assembly to include “sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression” in the Virginia Human Rights Act that protects government employees from workplace discrimination.

Council proposed the resolution following the one-year anniversary of a hate crime against a gay student at the University that occurred April 4, 2009. Engineering School Representative Seth Kaye, who sponsored the bill, was shocked by the level of support he received from more than 62 groups in the University community in favor of the proposal. “I sent one e-mail out to the StudCo-CIO listserv … I talked to a handful of groups, but certainly not 62,” Kaye said. This resounding support that poured in from an eclectic variety of student organizations should stand as a red flag for the University to follow suit with such change.

George Mason University lost no time in responding to the attorney general’s request. A mere three weeks after Cuccinelli issued his letter, George Mason reaffirmed its commitment to the LGBTQ communities by resolving that “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender faculty, students, administrators and staff make outstanding contributions to the accomplishment of the university mission.” More specifically, George Mason’s Board of Visitors asserted this equal treatment for all persons would remain in place, arguing that a diverse community on its campus is “vitally important.”