I submitted an editorial to the Fairfax Times on the recent controversy over Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Cuccinelli’s actions regarding nondiscrimination policies in Virginia. Thanks to the Fairfax Times for printing it! Let’s keep the pressure on our elected officials to get a real nondiscrimination law here in Virginia!
| January 12, 2010 | ||
| 6:00 am | to | 7:00 pm |
This is a special election for the Senate seat currently held by KenCuccinelli. Senator Cuccinelli is vacating the seat because he was elected to be attorney general in the November election.
The candidates are:
We are hoping each candidate will participate in a podcast to answer questions.
Senate District 37 runs from West Springfield in the southeast through Burke to Centreville and Chantilly. For a map of the district, look here.
A new publicaition, the DC Agenda, is up and hoping to succeed the now defunct Washington Blade. It’s just getting going, but you can check it out online and see what they are up to.
We learned today that the Washington Blade has ceased publication. For details, see this story. The Blade has been a fixture in the DC area gay community and though it was more focused on the city than the suburbs, it’s presence will be missed.
Though Maine’s rejection of equality is disappointing this article is worth reading as it shows how acceptance of marriage equality is growing throughout the county. That article also links to a paper that is the source for the charts.
Here in Virginia, support for same sex marriage has grown from 25% in 1994 to about 38% in 2008. That still puts us seriously below a majority but it’s interesting to note that the anti-marriage amendment vote had roughly 42% “no” votes. So, even some people who don’t support marriage equality didn’t support a constitutional amendment to discriminate.
Looking at it by age group, the 18-29 year old group, in 2008 here in Virginia were 55-60% in favor of marriage equality. This speaks volumes in terms of how long Virginia’s institutionalized homophobia will last.
Virginia has often been listed as one of the most homophobic states in the country, but, at least by the data represented in this paper, we are in the middle of the pack. We have had some of the most homophobic legislators but this paper shows that this attitude doesn’t exist in the general population to the same degree is has in the General Assembly. Alabama’s citizens would appear to be the least in favor of marriage equality and this article in the Advocate shows how very much alive that homophobia is when a principal will cancel a prom rather than let two lesbians attend as a couple.
Most of the readers of this already know that Maine voters repealed Maine’s marriage equality law. This is a major disappointment but there were positives last night. It appears the attempt to repeal Washington state’s domestic partnership law may have been defeated though by the slimmest of margins. Voters in Kalamazoo, Michigan also soundly defeated an attempt to repeal that city’s non-discrimination law.
Though the result in Maine is disappointing, we mustn’t let it discourage us. In any movement there are always setbacks and while California and Maine are major setbacks we must take that disappointment and channel it into positive action.
One of the lessons from Maine is that urban voters supported our cause while rural voters didn’t. Unfortunately, there simply weren’t enough urban voters in Maine. Most states probably don’t have enough big cities to offset the large but more diffuse population outside the urban regions. As a community, we’ve done a pretty good job of educating voters in urban and suburban areas. Most of us live in these regions. It’s probably safe to say that most people who live in rural areas don’t have much contact with openly gay people. Until we can reach that group, we’re always going to be living on the razor’s edge in votes like this.
Here in Virginia, marriage equality still has a long road ahead of it but there is still a great deal of work to do to make Virginia a safer place for us to live. We need to continue to work to get a state law passed to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in state hiring. At the federal level we need to continue to work to pass ENDA and repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Progress on those issues will ultimately help move the marriage equality issue forward.
| November 3, 2009 | ||
| 6:00 am | to | 7:00 pm |
November 3rd is election day in Virginia. Polls are open from 6am to 7pm.
The following offices are being determined by this election:
Be sure to make your voice heard!
It’s taken over a decade but the Hate Crime Prevention Act is supposed to be signed into law tomorrow according to 365gay.com. Hopefully this will see the gay and trans panic defenses become a distant memory.
While it is true that this law won’t prevent any violence directly, it does give us the tools to more effectively prosecute the people who perpetrate that violence. It also sends a message about what type of society we want to create.
This was one of the “Big Four” pieces of legislation at the federal level. Hopefully we can get the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or the Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” passed next as well as work toward the repeal of DOMA. Let’s use this event to energize us to further action!
This is an interview with the incumbent 36th district candidate, Delegate Ken Plum.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:03 — 5.6MB)
Equality Fairfax has requested interviews with all the major party candidates running for the Virginia House of Delegates. Each candidate was given the three questions ahead of time so they could prepare an answer.
Prior to the interview each candidate was read the following statement:
Equality Fairfax is a 501(c)(3) charitable, nonpartisan, not for profit corporation established to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the county of Fairfax, Virginia.
Equality Fairfax strives to meet its goal through dialog, visibility, charitable endeavors and civic involvement; all efforts aim to achieve equality by educating and informing Fairfax County residents and business, religious and community leaders on the needs, concerns and contributions of their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender neighbors.
Each candidate was asked the following three questions:
In addition, each candidate had the opportunity to make an opening and closing statement.
As each race is completed we will update this article with links to the individual articles. Currently, the following interviews are available:
Here is a link to district maps for Fairfax County. You may also look up your current delegate and state senator at the Virginia General Assembly website.
District 34
District 35 (open seat)
District 36
Distruct 37
District 38 (Kory defeated incumbent Bob Hull in the primary)
District 39
District 40
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44 (open seat)
District 45
District 46
District 49
District 53
District 67
District 86
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