By a unanimous 7-0 vote tonight, the Falls Church City Council passed a resolution strongly rebuking Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s recent ruling calling for state colleges and universities to remove lesbians and gays as a class from protections against discrimination. The Falls Church Council’s “Resolution in Support of Diversity” noted that the Council “was deeply troubled” by the March 4 Cuccinelli opinion, affirming that “discrimination will not be tolerated in any form” in Falls Church, and calls on Cuccinelli to rescind his opinion.
In the same resolution, the Council defies the basis for Cuccinelli’s opinion — that is, that since state law does not explicitly allow for protecting lesbians and gays that no jurisdiction within the state can allow it — by stating, “It is the policy of the City of Falls Church to welcome people to the City — residents, businesses and employees — regardless of their race, color, religion or lack thereof, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, age, marital status or disability.”
Finally, the resolution “applauds Governor McDonnell’s subsequent issuance of a directive that he would not tolerate discrimination of any kind, including discrimination based on sexual orientation,” encouraging him to “adopt a formal, legally-binding executive order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, like his predecessors, Governor Warner and Governor Kaine,” and “encourages the General Assembly to amend the Virginia Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation as a protected class.”
