Tag: Virginia

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Virginia Governor Vetoes Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Legislation

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe

Breaking the record for most vetoes by a Virginia governor, Gov. Terry McAuliffe has torpedoed two “religious freedom” bills passed by the Republican-led legislature.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

McAuliffe, a Democrat in the last year of his four-year term, vetoed the bills during a live radio appearance on Washington’s WTOP, calling them “another attempt to “stigmatize” LGBT Virginians.

“You already have religious protection. Why would you push this bill out that does absolute nothing?,” McAuliffe said. “All you’re doing is trying to divide people. And I”m just not going to tolerate it.”

The vetoes of House Bill 2025 and Senate Bill 1324 are McAuliffe’s 90th and 91st, pushing McAliffe past the previous 90-veto record set by former Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore.

McAuliffe had already vetoed bills this year would legalize switchblades for some purposes, defund Planned Parenthood, allow homeschooled students to play on public-school sports teams, let military members under 21 apply for concealed handgun permits and add photo ID requirements for absentee ballots.

Democrats derided the two bills as anti-LGBT and discriminatory while Republicans framed the legislation as protecting “religious freedoms.”

Language in the bills allowed individuals the right to refuse to participate in a same-sex marriage based on “sincerely held religious belief” or “moral conviction.” This right already exists in the First Amendment.

Lacking veto-proof majorities, Republicans have not been able to override any of McAuliffe’s 91 vetoes.

Equality Virginia Executive Director James Parrish issued a statement of support for the veto:

“Equality Virginia applauds Governor McAuliffe for fulfilling his promise to veto this discriminatory and destructive bill. We recognize that religion is a vital part of many Virginians’ daily lives, but HB 2025 does not protect religious liberty. Instead, it provides a license to discriminate against loving LGBTQ families; furthermore, its broad and vague definition of ‘person’ would set a dangerous precedent for discriminatory individuals and groups to be protected by our religious freedom laws.”

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Virginia: Governor Promises To Veto Any Anti-LGBT Legislation

(image via Twitter)

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe says his state will not be emulating the anti-LGBT mess going on in North Carolina any time soon.

Earlier today, McAuliffe signed an executive order that bans anti-LGBT discrimination among state employees, contractors and subcontractors.

Via the Roanoke Times:

Gov. Terry McAuliffe vowed Wednesday to veto any legislation he receives from Virginia lawmakers similar to North Carolina’s controversial “bathroom bill.” His statement comes one day after Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William, prefiled the Physical Privacy Act. The bill stipulates people must use the restroom, locker room or changing room that corresponds to the gender assigned at birth as opposed to the gender with which they identify. The measure would apply to restrooms located in public schools, universities and government buildings.

Asked about the proposal after an unrelated event Wednesday at Virginia Tech, McAuliffe said he would strike down all legislation that inhibits anyone’s individual rights. “Stay away from the socially divisive issues,” he said to legislators. “We are not going to put a wall up around Virginia.” Marshall said he doesn’t introduce legislation based what McAuliffe likes and doesn’t like. Virginia would be lucky to be as business-friendly and collect as much tax revenue as its neighbor to the south, Marshall said.

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Trump Campaign Calls It Quits In Virginia

NBC News is reporting the Donald Trump presidential campaign is “pulling out” of Virginia which may indicate the campaign is choosing to focus it’s resources on a smaller list of states to target.

The announcement was made late Wednesday.

The move to pull out of Virginia shows Trump is “running essentially a four state campaign,” with the focus now shifting to battlegrounds critical to his chances in November: Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio, a source with knowledge of the decision told NBC News.

RealClearPolitics currently shows Clinton with a 7.5-point lead in Virginia.

While the race remains very competitive in North Carolina and Ohio, Pennsylvania is looking pretty solid for Hillary at this time as poll averages show she has an almost 9 point lead over Trump.

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Virginia: Hillary Clinton Opens 12 Point Lead In Battleground State

Democrat Hillary Clinton has opened up a 12 point lead in the battleground state of Virginia, according to the latest CBS News Tracker poll.

The former Secretary of State rakes in 49% support while businessman Donald Trump received only 37% support from likely voters.

Clinton’s high numbers come in part due to the fact that she has nearly universal support from her party – 95%. Trump only garners 79% of Republicans.

Also adding to the widening gap, Clinton seemed to have wooed a swath of those Republicans, 6%, to her column.

The same poll shows Clinton leading Trump by two point, 43% vs. 41%, in battleground state Nevada.

And in surprising news, Trump holds only a two point lead in deep red state, Arizona.

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Supreme Court Ruling Allows Virginia School To Continue Transgender Discrimination

The U.S. Supreme Court struck a blow to transgender rights today as the high court voted 5-3 to allow a Virginia school to continue to block trans students from using the public bathroom the students gender identity aligned with while the case itself is being appealed.

The Court was responding to request from a Virginia school board to stay a lower court’s ruling which found its transgender bathroom ban to be discriminatory and illegal.

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Virginia Governor Vetoes Anti-LGBT Legislation

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has vetoed recent legislation that would have legalized anti-LGBT discrimination.

From The Washington Blade:

McAuliffe said in a statement that Senate Bill 41 is “nothing more than an attempt to stigmatize.”

“This legislation is also bad for business and creates roadblocks as we try to build the new Virginia economy,” he said. “Businesses and job creators do not want to locate or do business in states that appear more concerned with demonizing people than with creating a strong business climate.”

“Legislation that immunizes the discriminatory actions of certain people and institutions at the expense of same-sex couples would damage Virginia’s reputation for commonsense, pro-business government,” added McAuliffe. “We need only look at the damage these types of laws are doing in other states to understand the harm this bill could bring to our Commonwealth and its economy.”

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Virginia Man Severely Beaten In Vicious Anti-Gay Attack

Hideous anti-gay attack over the holiday left a Virginia hairstylist severely injured and unable to work.

Robert Drew Inge claims he’s the victim of a hate crime after he was brutally beaten inside his own home on Christmas night.

“I was thrown into my bathtub, and stomped in the face and jaw over and over while being called a ‘fa**ot,’” Inge wrote on Facebook.

He said the attacker, a man he barely knew, tackled him from behind and “slammed my fingers on my right hand into the door, breaking them and ripping them open.”

“I was attacked, beaten, held against my will, stabbed in the face with a metal object and am now recovering,” Inge added on Instagram.

Inge works as a hairdresser. As a result of the incident, he says he will likely be out of work for weeks.

“I won’t be able to work as one of the injuries I sustained was my fingers I use to cut hair being crushed,” he wrote. “I don’t know the extent of damage done to my fingers but I will be back to do hair in a few weeks hopefully, and I won’t let anything stop me.”

He also said he will need “dental work to have teeth that were stomped out of my face fixed.”

Inge adds that his attacker has been arrested.

Unable to work, his friends urged him to launch a crowd-sourcing campaign to help raise funds for his medical bills. In an update on the campaign page, Inge says several teeth will need root canals or be permanently removed.

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Virginia: Patient Awarded $500K After Anesthesiologist Mocked Him During Surgery

A Virginia man was sued and won in a lawsuit involving his anesthesiologist after his phone recorded the physician mocking and insulting him while he was sedated and documenting a false diagnosis during a colonoscopy.

“After five minutes of talking to you in pre-op,” the anesthesiologist told the sedated patient, “I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit,” she was recorded saying.

When a medical assistant noted the man had a rash, the anesthesiologist warned her not to touch it, saying she might get “some syphilis on your arm or something,” then added, “It’s probably tuberculosis in the penis, so you’ll be all right.”

When the assistant noted that the man reported getting queasy when watching a needle placed in his arm, the anesthesiologist remarked on the recording, “Well, why are you looking then, retard?”

The jury awarded the man $100,000 for defamation — $50,000 each for the comments about the man having syphilis and tuberculosis — and $200,000 for medical malpractice, as well as the $200,000 in punitive damages.

At one point, the anesthesiologist, Dr. Tiffany Ingham, wonders aloud if the patient is gay, then said “I’m going to mark ‘hemorrhoids’ even though we don’t see them and probably won’t,” and did write a diagnosis of hemorrhoids on the man’s chart, which the lawsuit said was a falsification of medical records.

The award was a compromise by the jury who ranged from wanting to award more to one juror who didn’t want to award anything to the patient.

Note: Virginia is a “one-party consent” state, meaning that only one person involved in a conversation need agree to the recording.

Listen to “low-lights” of the recording below:

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Virginia Ordered To Pay Over $520K To Marriage Equality Lawyers

The state of Virginia has been ordered to pay $520,000 to the lawyers for two same-sex couples who successfully challenged the state’s gay marriage ban.

The law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher will receive $459,000. Shuttleworth, Ruloff, Swain, Haddad & Morecock will receive $61,000.

Court papers show that attorneys logged 2,372 hours on the case. Their fees will be paid by the state Department of Treasury’s Division of Risk Management.

Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban was found to be unconstitutional last February. After unsuccessful appeals and SCOTUS refusing to review the ruling, it was a done deal.

In many states, the winning side of a lawsuit may ask for compensatory fees from the losing side.

Hope the tax payers of Virginia don’t mind losing those funds to a bigoted argument.

p.s. You will note, the sky has NOT fallen in Virginia since the passage of marriage equality.

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Virginia: Attorney General Says Same-Sex Marriage Could Begin Today

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has announced that same-sex couples in the state should be able to obtain marriage licenses as soon as today following the Supreme Court’s denial of all seven gay marriage cases earlier this morning.