Va. Employers Can Now Offer Life Insurance to Partners of Gay Employees

How did this one get in under the radar? Is Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell softening his position on LGBT rights or is this just a ploy to make himself look less hateful in the wake of his recent string of homophobic policies?

It's more likely that Taliban Bob is feeling the a sense of urgency over Northrop-Grumman's yet to be announced decision on where to relocate their corporate headquarters. The company announced plans last year to relocate to the DC metro area. There has been a lot of pressure on the aerospace giant from LGBT rights groups to avoid Virginia due to our homophobic laws and instead choose the more queer-friendly environments of either Maryland or the District of Columbia.

From dcAgenda:

A bill enabling Virginia companies to offer life insurance benefits to the same-sex partners of employees became law earlier this month after Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed the measure.

The new law, approved by both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly with unanimous votes, was enacted after McDonnell signed it April 7.

Stacey Johnson, a McDonnell spokesperson, said the governor signed the bill into law because it passed with broad bipartisan support in the House and Senate. “In addition, it will have no fiscal impact on Virginia’s taxpayers,” she said. “The governor believes a decision about who an employer can extend life insurance coverage to should be made by the group policy holder and the insurer.”

Previously, state law permitted Virginia residents to take out group life insurance coverage only for a legal spouse or a child under age 25. But the new statute, which takes effect July 1, broadens that group of people to include anyone with whom a Virginia resident has a substantial and economic interest, including a same-sex partner.

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"Lipstick on a Bigot": Homophobic Watch targets McDonnell and Cuccinelli, issues Call to Action

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli continue to call attention to the Commonwealth of Virginia for their bigoted, homophobic policies. Recently the YouTube channel, "Homophobic Watch" posted the following video showing how Virginia's colleges and universities, specifically, the College of William and Mary, are standing their ground against legalized bigotry by not changing their equal protection policies that include sexual orientation and gender expression and identity.

Homophobic Watch's message is simple and direct:

You can put lipstick on a bigot, but its still a bigot, and if McDonnell doesnt put his money where his mouth is with an executive order, his true intentions become clearer. Ladies and gentlemen, confront this homophobia, and here is what you should do:

Respectfully contact Virginina Governor Robert McDonnell by going to governor.virginia.gov or calling (804) 786-2211.

Respectfully contact Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II by going to oag.state.va.us or calling (804) 786-2071.

Respectfully support the College of William & Mary's policy of banning discrimination against gay people by contacting them at web.wm.edu/contact/contact.php

Respectfully urge defense contractor Northrop Grumman to reject Virginia as the location for its new national headquarters. To contact them, click on the link in the description box to this video

https://appserv.northropgrumman.com/R...

Continue to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would protect LGBT people from discrimination everywhere in the country. To find your Reprsentative, go to writerep.house.gov. To find your Senator, go to www.senate.gov and select your state at the top right corner of the website.

Only when you do something will you make a difference.

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Is Virginia's Homophobia Hurting Its Economy?

The Washington Post reports in Saturday's edition that a bidding war in the DC Metro area to attract aerospace and defense manufacturing giant Northrop Grumman has taken an interesting turn of events with a queer twist. In January the world's fourth largest defense contractor announced plans to relocate from the Los Angeles area to the Washington, DC area by the end of 2011. Naturally both Maryland and Virginia would love to be the new home state of the company that ranked 76 on the Fortune 500 in 2008.

According to The Post, LGBT rights groups and the state of Maryland are pressuring Northrop Grumman not to choose Virginia based on the commonwealth's anti-gay Marriage Amendment and Gov. Bob McDonnell's failure to include LGBT state workers in the executive order he signed earlier this month banning workplace discrimination.

The Post reports: In a letter sent Thursday to the company's CEO, Maryland State Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery) argued his state's stand on gay rights better mirrors the company's own longstanding commitment to gay and lesbian employees.

"Here in Maryland, we value our gay and lesbian citizens as part of a diverse population that makes the state strong," Madaleno wrote. "Virginia is doing the opposite and letting its LGBT citizens -- and those considering whether to move and work there -- know that they and their families are unwelcome second-class citizens. And they are counting on corporations like yours not to care."

The Los Angeles-based company is currently deciding between Virginia, Maryland and the District as a new home for its 300 top executives, running an unusually public contest among the three.

Both Madaleno and Equality Virginia have written letters to Northrop Grumman CEO, Wesley Bush urging the defense contractor to pick Maryland and accusing Virginia Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli of turning back the clock on civil rights, while Maryland's attorney general announced this week that the state will recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. Northrop Grumman has consistently received a perfect score from the Human Rights Campaign for its workplace protections of LGBT employees.

The Post article contiues, Tucker Martin, a spokesman for McDonnell, responded that companies can enact the same corporate policies for their own employees in Virginia as in other states. He jabbed back at the Maryland rhetoric, insisting Virginia has been winning jobs because it doesn't have the "high taxes and excessive government interference and regulations found in some neighboring states."

"This Maryland legislator isn't really interested in job-creation," Martin said. "If he was, he would spend his time trying to enact Virginia's model of low taxes, limited regulation and strong right-to-work laws."

In other words, the governor of Virginia is abdicating his responsibility to protect the citizens of his own state because private employers are free to choose whether or not to discriminate against their employees. Write that down and remember it every election day (because we have them every year), including the one that will give you the opportunity to replace Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli.

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