Virginia Attorney General to Colleges Stop Protecting Gay People

Virginia's attorney general has issued an order to the state's colleges to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, saying the schools don't have the authority to adopt such statements.

Ken Cuccinelli II sent a letter to each of the schools, saying that only the state's general assembly can extend legal protections to gay state employees, students, and others, a move the legislature refused to make yet again as recently as last week.

"It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including 'sexual orientation,' 'gender identity,' 'gender expression,' or like classification as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy absent specific authorization from the General Assembly," he wrote in the letter.

Cuccinelli's letter comes just one day after Washington, D.C., began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Couple is D.C. will be able to start getting married next week.