McDonnell’s bias shows in legal advice

Posted on May 18, 2006 by David

Ya think?

From the Virginian-Pilot:

Charitably, McDonnell’s explanation is incomplete. Uncharitably, it’s advocacy for the amendment, which he championed as a member of the House of Delegates. Given the explanations coming from his office, Virginians would be wise to view McDonnell’s explanation most uncharitably.

Again, Virginia law requires that the explanation “shall be in plain English, shall be limited to a neutral explanation, which may include a brief statement on the effect of a ‘yes’ and ‘no’ vote on the question but shall not include arguments submitted by either proponents or opponents of the proposal.”

Given the content of his opinion, it’ll take some serious logical, legal and linguistic gymnastics for any judge to reach the conclusion that McDonnell’s opinion squares with any part of that state code.

Since the only rationale provided for the Marshall-Newman Amendment in the first place is the notion of “activist judges,” gymnastics doesn’t really sound like the activity McDonnell ought to be encouraging. But maybe that’s just me.

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On career decisions, unfortunate

Posted on May 16, 2006 by David

Attorney General Bob McDonnell continues to make a mockery of Virginia law by actively lobbying for the proposed constitutional amendment. Any claim that he could have authored a “neutral” explanation of it is beyond laughable.

Memo to the House and Senate Privileges and Elections Committee members who approved disseminating the AG’s biased explanation to the voters: It’s time for a do-over. Rescind it and try again.

From a May 15 “Some Families Foundation” action alert:

..The [pro Marshall-Newman Amendment event] is a great opportunity to join together in the effort to pass the Marriage Amendment. We are pleased that AG McDonnell will also be in attendance and address the sponsors’ reception.

Come join us celebrate the institution of traditional marriage and be inspired in how you can help ensure that marriage is protected for future generations!

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A manufactured “train wreck”

Posted on May 14, 2006 by David

Update: To illustrate the coordination of this article with other elements of the AGI, this action alert about the federal “marriage amendment” was sent out this morning by the “American Family Association”:

“Once homosexual marriage is legal, our religious liberties will be stripped away. Even pro-homosexual marriage advocates agree with that statement. To understand how this will happen, please take time read Dr. Maggie Gallagher’s rather long and accurate article by clicking here. Print it out and give a copy to your pastor!”

In an article to be published tomorrow in the Weekly Standard, anti-gay commentator Maggie Gallagher frames equal treatment under the law for GLBT people as creating an insurmountable conflict with religious liberty.

This is by no means a new argument, but it’s one that hasn’t enjoyed much traction except as a rallying cry to stir up the already anti-gay troops. Informed and thoughtful people find instances of religious speech suppression in nations that are not subject to our Bill of Rights less than compelling, apparently.

The purpose of this article is therefore to extend the argument, to explain why the religious liberty we all enjoy under our Bill of Rights is not enough for anti-gay “religious conservatives.” It’s a fascinating study in trying to justify the denial of equality to a class of people.

Continue reading →

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Hubris

Posted on May 11, 2006 by David

Update: Virginia Centrist says “Bob McDonnell adds ‘Please vote YES’ to Amendment language.”

Attorney General Bob McDonnell is above the law.

That’s the only conclusion we can reach in light of his editing activities. As we reported earlier, Virginia law requires that an explanation of any constitutional amendment be disseminated to the voters. This explanation is required to be neutral and is to be prepared by the Division of Legislative Services, not by a public official who has openly and aggressively lobbied for the amendment. Virginia code explicitly states:

The explanation shall be presented in plain English, shall be limited to a neutral explanation, which may include a brief statement on the effect of a “yes” and “no” vote on the question but shall not include arguments submitted by either proponents or opponents of the proposal.

Attorney General McDonnell’s intervention to determine what voters will be told about the Marshall-Newman amendment is a flagrant violation of the law. Our suggestion is that if he wishes to advance his personal agenda through his office, he first obtain a change in the law he is sworn to uphold. He simply needs to eliminate “neutrality” as the criterion. Perhaps he could manage to insert this change into Virginia’s Bill of Rights so that “the next generation” won’t be able to decide their own referendum process, either.

The House has approved this biased “explanation.” Please tell the Senate that you expect a neutral explanation as required by law.

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Gay voices in Hampton Roads

Posted on May 9, 2006 by David

The Hampton Roads Daily Press is running a series of feature articles and editorials called Out Here: Gay voices on family, faith and friendship in Hampton Roads.

The series started on Sunday in the section “The Good Life,” and will run for three weeks. It includes an opportunity for readers to submit questions to a panel (today’s question: “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?”), and they are also posting the daily feedback from readers, here. (You can find feedback from previous days by searching with the keywords “feedback gay.”)

Editorials include one on the Marshall-Newman amendment by Claire Gastañaga, and a brief overview of the science of sexual orientation. Together despite the odds profiles several gay and lesbian couples living a typical suburban life, and provides a good illustration of all the little ways our families’ security is threatened, in spite of our best efforts to put protections in place.

The editors are doing an excellent job responding with polite regard to the frothy bullies who threaten to cancel their subscriptions because they can’t stand this much reality in their morning paper: We’re sorry you feel that way, but our job is to cover the whole community.

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Yes, it is about hate.

Posted on May 9, 2006 by David

The local far righties over at NoVA Townhall have outdone themselves with a post linking to an article about the Transgender Health Initiative Survey. This is a study sponsored by VCU and the Virginia Department of Health to assess the availability of appropriate health care for transgender Virginians, and will be used to train health care providers and otherwise improve access to care.

Because of prejudice, or simply lack of knowledge on the part of health care providers, transgender people face numerous barriers to accessing basic health care, let alone transition-related care. Compounded by employment and housing discrimination – still perfectly legal in Virginia – this leads to greatly increased vulnerability to life-threatening health problems, a dangerous situation for members of our community that needs to be corrected.

“This makes me angry,”

says the pseudonymous poster.

Angry that an extremely vulnerable, at-risk population – dehumanized because of a medical condition – might gain access to the basic health care that saves lives.

If this isn’t a textbook example of pure hatred, I don’t know what is.

The survey is located here.

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Oh Happy Day

Posted on May 8, 2006 by David

Our calendar is finally up, and doesn’t appear to be malfunctioning.

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