Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Peter Galuszka , March 10, 2010
RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia's historically Black colleges and universities are reeling after a controversial legal opinion by Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli that would invalidate any policy erected by public colleges that bans discrimination against gays and lesbians.
"This is having a chilling effect," says Dr. Charles Ford, a professor of history and interim associate dean of the College of Arts and Science at Norfolk State University. He says historically Black schools will be hardest hit if the opinion keeps away private foundation and grant money.
Cuccinelli issued his opinion just days after the state Legislature committee killed a bill to extend anti-discrimination rights to gay state workers. The issue is politically charged because the discrimination issue had been taken up in the Legislature after the state's conservative governor, Robert McDonnell, refused to include gays in an executive order prohibiting discrimination against state workers.
McDonnell’s two Democratic predecessors, former Govs. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, included gays in their anti-discrimination executive orders. During his campaign last year, the socially conservative McDonnell was criticized for a graduate thesis he wrote saying that the government should give married heterosexual couples more rights than "cohabiters, homosexuals and fornicators."
Full Story: http://diverseeducation.com/article/13612/virginia-hbcus-struggle-with-legal-opinion-that-bars-protection-for-gays.html
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