LGBT Protections Die in Va. House

A Virginia house of delegates subcommittee failed to advance a bill that would have provided protections for LGBT state employees.

According to The Washington Post, "The same GOP-led panel killed similar legislation last year. Democrats had pushed the bill hard this year, in part in response to a letter that Attorney Gen. Ken Cuccinelli (R) delivered to colleges and universities last year instructing them that, in the absence of a decision by the General Assembly to write protections for gays into law, they could not include language dealing with sexual orientation in their campus non-discrimination policies."

In response to an uproar, Gov. Bob McDonnell issued an executive directive, which does not carry the force of law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the state workforce.

Opponents of the bill argued that the executive directive provides sufficient protections and that there is little evidence of discrimination against state workers, the Post reports.