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Michael Moore, a former resident of Martinsville, VA said he was forced to resign from the Virginia Museum of Natural History because he is gay. The state has no anti-discrimination law, just Governor Tim Kaine's (who is also the DNC chair) 2006 executive order. The courts have ruled that without legislation on the books, Moore has no recourse there. (Wash Blade):
According to Moore, during his evaluation in October 2006, the museum’s executive director, Tim Gette said, “Michael, there are board members that are aware you are gay, and I do not appreciate you hiding that from me.” Moore has said his evaluation qualified him for a pay increase, but he was still asked to resign the following month.
Michael Hamar, who’s gay and Moore’s attorney, said he’s “disappointed” in the court’s decision. “It looks as if they’re saying the executive order in 2006 doesn’t basically do anything,” Hamar said.
A Roanoke Times editorial calls for legislative action to protect employees.
Through his spokesman, Kaine said the executive order would remain in effect, but as an internal policy. Workers who are fired or discriminated against because of their sexual orientation can seek redress through the state's personnel procedures, said spokesman Gordon Hickey.
That's less than adequate. The decision by the Martinsville court should be a convincing sign to the General Assembly that protection against such discrimination must be written into Virginia's code. Only a law will offer genuine confidence to Virginia's gay employees that they won't face irrational threats to their employment based on their sexual orientation.
Notably, trans protections are not called for, so whoever works on writing up a bill needs to get that on the radar.
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not happeningThis type of bill has almost no chance of passage given the makeup of the General Assembly. The Commonwealth will likely get protections forced from the federal level with ENDA.
What’s very disturbing is that Kaine says that he will enforce the Executive Order through the greivance process, which includes the right of appeal to the Circuit Court. This is precisely what we attempted and we got nowhere. More disturbing, Kaine did NOTHING in terms of holding anyone accountable. My opinion is that Kaine signed the Executive Order to appease LGBT interest groups with no intention of it ever being used or enforced. And now he’s DNC chair.
“Disappointed”Can we talk a minute about this word?
I am disappointed when I find that an episode of my favorite TV show is a rerun this week.
I am disappointed when a friend forgets to call on my birthday.
When Michael Hamar looses a major civil rights case allowing thousands to be fired from their jobs for no reason other than that they are gay, you’d think he could summon up something stronger to describe his feelings than “disappointed.”
Don’t want to be a debbie downerbut I’m beginning to believe no executive order, law or what have you will ever help us achieve equality.
Even after all of the painstaking moves over our short history to pass laws to help Black people achieve equality have fallen short. The disparities are easy to see.
Even if we do pass laws… The people with the power to control our daily lives will still be behind. Yeah, a majority is in favor of equality.. but those who really can put that into force want to keep the status quo. It keeps them powerful.
(Boy I woke up on the negative side of the bed!)
Another route to protest the situationHow about the lesbigay community go after the Natural History Museum and its Board? Lets find a list of contributors and ask them not to fund a homophobic organization.
Virgina is a racist, sexist, homophobic state. Lets not kid ourself nothing is going to change there till they are forced to.
we’re talking southwestern VA hereYou may have some bastions of liberalism within the local Universities in the area but the area is overwhelmingly Palinesque.
Soundslike he learned from Obama (or vice versa). Give them a Pyrrhic victory — something that doesn’t mean anything but makes me look good, at least to some people — gets me some applause from certain groups — but in the end I ain’t gonna do anything that has any real meaning.
Virginia is for HATERSand so is Kaine. Why the hell the DNC is run by that bigot is dumbfounding. Governor Dean had his issues with firing the LGBT outreach guy, but Kaine drags us back pre-Stonewall.
how about firing museum director Tim Gette …I would guess that Gette reports to the Board of Trustees of the museum, and they in turn evaluate Gette’s performance.
Understanding the Board took no action in the beginning and that this case has been tried … how about if the Board was petitioned to fire Gette for evaluating and firing an employee based on factors irrelevant to job performance?
Yes, anti-gay prejudice and discrimination are at the heart of this, but I think there’s mileage to be gained by focussing on Gette’s competence as a director. He may as well have fired Mr. Moore because Moore likes Italian food or wears bow ties. In this way, perhaps gayness, anti-gay prejudice, and the existence of a valid non-discrimination statute (or not) are less at issue here than whether or not Gette is executing his duties responsibly and competently. Sure, it may be legal to fire someone for being queer, but it is also de facto incompetent management.
Yep, a statute is still a must, but in the meantime ..
This should wake the LGBT community upWe need LAWS for protection, not executive orders or policies. Fight for your rights. Your legal rights.
Legal analysis“It looks as if they’re saying the executive order in 2006 doesn’t basically do anything”
Its the same thing that most legal analysts from reality have always said. Executive orders are not worth the paper they are printed on. Within the government in question, they can only possibly have any effect up to the point in the food chain where someone decides to ignore them – and then? No recourse.
Bruce Springsteen asked, “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true? Or is it something worse?”
I’d say executive orders are something worse, because they not only do not help but they also lull people into believing that things are better than they are.
This is so f**ked up.
It’s Chinatown, JakeSorry, but the line from the very cynical movie is what comes to mind when I think about Virginia and any rights for gays and lesbians in that most benighted of states.
When equality comes to Virginia — and it will, some day — it will be from federal court (probably SCOTUS) rulings. That applies to equality in employment, in public accommodations, in adoption, in marriage, in everything.
Trust me, Virginia legislators will cut off all their toes before voting for equality in any matter. And it will remain that way.
It’s Virginia, Jake.
Laws aren’t designed to “help us achieve equality”The kind of equality you’re suggesting, which pretty much means total acceptance and no discrimination ever, is a chimera. It will never happen, at least not in the lifetime of anyone reading this. The laws we seek are designed to provide a legal framework for us to seek redress when we do encounter discrimination. Period. Unrealistic attitudes about “equality” and self-defeating attitudes toward legal protections are just that: self-defeating.
huh?I’m no fan of mainstream Democrats, but what exactly is the evidence that Kaine is a bigot? Yes, he failed to stand up as much as he should have on this case, and in general for LGBT rights in Virginia, but I’m not sure that makes him a bigot. Rather, I think that makes him a politician unwilling to take risks in our defense.
Association with Smithsonian?If you go to Virginia Museum of Natural History’s web site you will see they claim a association with the Smithsonian. One wonders if the Smithsonian has a code of ethics that it and entities associated with it must live by? No matter how backwards the Virginia Museum is the Smithsonian won’t want to be associated with a bunch of rabid homophobes.
The also have a facebook page. Seems like there is lots that can be done.
Yes, but…If any of the contributors are national corporations, it is most certainly possible to go after them to withdraw their support.
I could be wrong, but….I think the “in association with” tag merely means that the VA Museum is part of an Affiliated Museum program. You sign up with your local museum (or zoo, or whatever) and have access to a range of benefits like free or reduced-price entrance to related institutions around the country (or world).
Very Good!Makes no difference what personnel policies or code of ethics the Smithsonian may have.
Demand the Smithsonian sever their ties. If the Smithsonian refuses, mount demonstrations against the Smithsonian in DC.
Attack the Smithsonian for being anti-gay and against equal rights. Don’t even mention the Virginia museum. Make the Smithsonian explain that the protest is about their relationship with the Virginia museum.
Let tourists assume that Smithsonian is a hotbed of bigots.
The Smithsonian will be forced to explain that THEY aren’t the bigots and that they just have relationships with bigots –
When you’re explaining, you’re losing, so make the Smithsonian explain themselves.
Why should the SmithsonianSell reduced-rate tickets to members of the Virginia Museum of Bigotry and Intolerance?
P. S.By protesting the Smithsonian, we can bring into question Obama’s memorandum – which doesn’t even rise to the level of an executive order.
By the way, if it turned out that the Virginia museum didn’t hire blacks, how long do you think it would take the Smithsonian to sever all ties?
I respectuflly disagreeThe Bill of Rights, 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and other laws do exist to protect minority interests. Initially, the Founders sought to protect the minority of landed white males and business owners because they feared mob rule in a pseudo democracy where laws would be written and Constitution eventually amended.
Little by little protections have been afforded to other minorities like children born out of wedlock, racial minorities and women. They must be extended to the GLBTQ community, and this community needs equal protection and suspect class status. Period.
As wacky as Pennsylvania is, we have House Bill 300 that made it out of committee and is hanging out in Appropriations right now:
“An Act amending the act of October 27, 1955 (P.L.744, No.222), known as the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, further providing for findings and declaration of policy, for right to freedom from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation; defining “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression”; and further providing for unlawful discriminatory practices, for powers and duties of commission, for education program and for construction and exclusiveness of remedy.”
Yeah but…we can hit them in the pocketbook. A quick glance yielded these corporate sponsors:
Pfizer:
contact info: http://www.pfizer.com/contact/…
Geico:
contact info: http://www.geico.com/about/con…
Chick-fil-A:
contact info: http://www.chick-fil-a.com/#fe…
Finally, let the museum know just how you feel:
contact info: http://www.vmnh.net/contact.cfm
The difference is meaningless to meThe difference between ‘bigot’ and ‘political calculator’ is a matter of motivation. Whether he hates queer folk or not, he is not acting as an ally. It is his acts that matter to me.
Evidence?http://shakespearessister.blog…
Constitutional amendments aren’t at issue hereWhat’s being discussed is an executive order in VA. If the Reconstruction amendments already provided ample protection, we wouldn’t need ENDA, DOMA, DADT repeal, hate crimes laws or any of the other measures our community is fighting for. The constitution lays the theoretical framework; the laws are the bricks and mortar that will guarantee us civil treatment, i.e. legal redress under the constitution. They are the tools that will make it possible to see that constitutional protections are actually enforced, not simply given lip service as in the VA case we’re discussing in this thread.
HB 300 is an ideal example of what I’m talking about. It will provide legal recourse for LGBT Pennsylvanians who encounter discrimination. Period. It will not put an end to discrimination against us, any more than the existing Human Relations Act has ended discrimination against black Pennsylvanians (see Valley Swim Club). Anyone who thinks otherwise is being awfully naive.
The Const is a law, though. n/t
hmm close…but I wasn’t really talking about that when I wrote my original comment.
I agree with you about laws not being designed to help us achieve equality.
I was thinking more like, perhaps, these laws are always worthless. Perhaps the government isn’t the real power we believe it to be?
Sorry, I was reading about the C street and secret religious groupage in power and it got me feeling all zeitgeist this morning.
But yes, if things be how they seem laws will never bring about equality.. only help bring recourse, legally, if we are discriminated against. Never thought a law would change the mind of any average joe… look how many disregard speed limit laws. That law doesn’t make people agree that 50 is a safe speed, but if someone hits you from behind going 60… you have reason to seek legal action.
Legal and social change don’t necessarily go hand in hand.
Yes, the courts have basically no enforcement powers apart from the executive branch, BUT you can use them to hurt people in the pocketbookAnd while you may not change hearts and minds through litigation, sometimes you can change their behavior.
And that’s the first step for some.
Stop the behavior, protect people’s rights, and then the younger ones start to accept that this is the law and accept this is the way it is.
Who here has heard someone seriously say that women shouldn’t vote?
I’m not saying it’s the only way to affect change, but it’s an adjunct approach. A powerful one.
right on the money there, BethStop behaviors first, then time has to heal the rest.
There is a lot of force in human society to keep things the same, thus we take the slow Easy Bake Oven route of social change
The laws help us screw in a higher wattage bulb and we anticipate the cupcake of justice. Just gotta keep on our toes and make sure it stays plugged in.
Actually, gender identity and expression have been covered by the previous legislative attempts
Actually, they have been on the radar for a while now, in a weird way. This year’s HB2385, which failed in committee, would have protected public employees from employment discrimination based on gender identity or expression. The rub is that the bill first lists only “sexual orientation” among the protected groups:
… but then goes on to define sexual orientation to include gender identity and expression:
Personally, I am both grateful that Del. Adam Ebbin sees fit to include transfolk and miffed that he feels the need to do so in such a back-door way.
Yes. And I’ve been replying hither, thither and yon all in the wrong place. Sorry to cause confusion. We are on the same page.I will learn this comment system, dammit!
OKIt looks like Kaine has acted like a bigot (in partial defense of my ignorance, those offensive actions/decisions were before I moved (part-time) to Virginia). Thanks for providing the information.
He’s GUTLESS, certainly not a leader for Democrats. and sure as hell not for LGBTSMaybe Democrats didn’t get the hint the gAyTM is closed….but they will. Try running a Democrat in ANY major city that LGBTs don’t support…yeah do that honey.