Virginia is for Haters

Following on the heels of the governors repeal of the executive order banning discrimination against gays, his top enforcer has told all the public colleges in Virginia that they must allow unrestricted discrimination against gays on their campuses.

Officials and student leaders at Virginia colleges are reacting mutedly, so far, to an order from state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that the schools stop protecting LGBT students.

In a letter (PDF) sent to the state's public colleges and universities and obtained by the Washington Post, Cuccinelli declared that the schools don't have the authority to uphold bans on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation when the state itself has no such ban.

"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," the letter stated.

This should be a seminal moment for the "Shoot a Gay For Lunch" bunch.