Tag Archives: Virginia

Out Late in Virginia for DADT Repeal

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The following is from HRC Intern Ryan Wilson:

The Human  Rights Campaign is working overtime, making sure that senators know that the public wants the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law repealed. We were out in Upper Arlington on Friday night, collecting signatures to give to Senators Webb and Warner, letting them know that their constituents want to see repeal. People we spoke with expressed their frustration that the 17 year old policy is still on the books, and that our men and women serving are subject to such an insensible policy. It was an exciting evening, speaking with HRC members, veterans, and those supportive of seeing DADT in the dustbins of history.

If you are a family member of a veteran or active duty service member from Virginia, please call Senator Webb’s office today at 202-224-4024 and ask him to put aside politics and pass the National Defense Authorization Act with language that repeals “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

 To get involved in our DADT efforts in Virginia, please call David Turley at 202-330-3790 or email him at David.Turley@hrc.org Time is short. We need your help.


Human Rights Campaign | HRC Back Story

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HRC Pushing in Virginia for DADT Repeal

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With the November elections behind us and Congress back in just two days, HRC and our allies are working around the clock to make sure the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law is repealed once and for all. It has been a long year and a hard fight for DADT repeal advocates and our end goal is in sight. In May, the House passed DADT repeal language in its version of the FY 2011 defense authorization bill, but Republicans in the Senate blocked the bill from coming up for a vote there. Now is our time for repeal. Congress MUST vote this year to repeal DADT, because it may be our last chance at legislative repeal for a long time.

After spending the spring in Florida for DADT, I hit the ground in Virginia this week to continue the work of my fellow HRC organizers and focus our year long efforts to ensure Senator Webb’s support. Webb previously indicated that he would defer to the Pentagon study before taking a position on repeal. With the release of the study just around the corner on December the 1st, and with early leaks indicating that our military is overwhelming in support or indifferent to repeal, it is time for Senator Webb to stand up in support of repeal.

If you are a family member of a veteran or Active Duty service member from Virginia, please call Senator Webb’s office today at 202-224-4024 and ask him to put aside politics and pass the National Defense Authorization Act with language that repeals “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” Time is short; we need your help.

To get involved in our DADT efforts in Virginia, please call David Turley at 202-330-3790 or email me at David.Turley@hrc.org. Make sure that you also make it over to HRC’s online Action Center to make your voice heard.


Human Rights Campaign | HRC Back Story

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Fighting for DADT Repeal with West Virginia Veterans

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It is 11 a.m. on Veteran’s Day, and I just got off the phone with former U.S. Army Sergeant Pepe Johnson. We’ve spent the four days since I returned to West Virginia strategizing and reaching out to West Virginia veterans who favor repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT).  Seven years ago, despite an excellent record and the award of Soldier of the Year at Fort Sill, Pepe was discharged under the discriminatory DADT law.

We have less than 2 weeks to make sure that Senator-elect Manchin hears about DADT. Ask Senator-elect Manchin to honor Senator Robert Byrd’s legacy by supporting the repeal of DADT. Can you write a letter? Make a call? If you’re in West Virginia, e-mail me right now to find out the best way to make your voice heard.

There’s no time to lose. Pepe and I are making sure the Senator-elect Manchin hears the voices of fair-minded West Virginians.  That’s why we’ve teamed up once again with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and Fairness West Virginia to write letters, make calls and even videotape the stories of real Mountaineers who have been affected by DADT.

Can you help us send a message to Senator-elect Manchin before the Senate reconvenes next week? If you are a West Virginian with a story about how DADT has affected you or a loved one and you’d like to share it, contact me TODAY at Christine.sloane@hrc.org.

If you’re not in West Virginia, send a message to your senators today by visiting hrc.org/repealDADT.


Human Rights Campaign | HRC Back Story

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Virginia Beach GOP chairman agrees to resign after hitting ‘forward’ and ‘send’ on a racist e-mail

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When will they ever learn? I’m not just talking about moronic Republican bigoted politicians like this Virginia Beach Republican chairman (remember NC State Rep. Larry “Fruit Loops” Brown?), but people who think that somehow your randy/racist/homophobic emails to your “friends” may lead to forwards to “friends of friends” and then eventually to the MSM?

But back to this brain-dead pol — David Bartholomew, now the former chairman of Virginia Beach’s Republican Party resigned after sending this out to friends:

MY DOG

I went down this morning to sign up my Dog for welfare.

At first the lady said, “Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare”.

So I explained to her that my Dog is black, unemployed, lazy, can’t speak English and has no frigging clue who his Daddy is.

So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify…

My Dog gets his first check Friday.

Is this is a great country or what?

Yes, the mask comes off easily these days for the GOP politicians. As Monica Roberts said on my Facebook wall…

VA has a GOP governor and a GOP AG, so the bigots feel comfortable enough to KKKome out and play.

But wait, it does get better (as these stories often do). Look at the statement in the Virginia Pilot.

The city’s Republican chairman agreed to resign late Monday night, just hours after a racist joke sent from his e-mail address surfaced.

David Bartholomew is not a racist and agreed to resign because the e-mail had become a distraction to the Nov. 2 election, said Gary Byler, the 2nd Congressional District GOP chairman, after meeting with Bartholomew.

The e-mail was dated March 15 and sent from the address that Bartholomew uses as party chairman. Bartholomew forwarded it without reading the contents when “he was first getting familiar with the Internet,” Byler said.

Oh. My. F*cking. Dog. Is that not the most ridiculous excuse you’ve heard? OK, first, any disclaimer that starts off with “he’s not a racist” should just go into the circular file pronto. But “getting familiar with the Internet” makes the guy look like a moron. Perhaps Bartholomew’s “forward” and “send” buttons in his email client must be inordinately larger than the rest of the commands, and his hands uncontrollably moved to hit them on that one missive.

Come on, go with the simplest explanation, since Republican bigots are a dime a dozen. Bartholomew just wanted to share his tasteless humor with people he thought were his friends. Now who’s going to fess up to sending to the media? I’m sure he wants to know.

The Maddow blog has more, with the hat tips going to Daily Kos diarist @lowkell and Blue Virginia.
Pam’s House Blend – Front Page

—  John Wright

Tragedy waiting to happen? Tennessee, Arizona, Georgia, and Virginia allow loaded guns in bars

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Looking at the states in question, perhaps we should not be surprised, but seriously, how is this a good idea ANYWHERE in this gun-loving, hair-trigger temper, liquored-up society? (NYT):

Happy-hour beers were going for at Past Perfect, a cavernous bar just off this city’s strip of honky-tonks and tourist shops when Adam Ringenberg walked in with a loaded 9-millimeter pistol in the front pocket of his gray slacks.

Mr. Ringenberg, a technology consultant, is one of the state’s nearly 300,000 handgun permit holders who have recently seen their rights greatly expanded by a new law – one of the nation’s first – that allows them to carry loaded firearms into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.

…The new measures in Tennessee and the three other states come after two landmark Supreme Court rulings that citizens have an individual right – not just in connection with a well-regulated militia – to keep a loaded handgun for home defense.

…State Representative Curry Todd, a Republican who first introduced the guns-in-bars bill here, said that carrying a gun inside a tavern was never the law’s primary intention. Rather, he said, the law lets people defend themselves while walking to and from restaurants.

The purported mitigating factor here is the gun-toter cannot drink alcohol in the establishment. If these laws are challenged in states with big urban city centers and gun restrictions fall by the wayside, you can imagine the chaos that will ensue.
Pam’s House Blend – Front Page

—  John Wright

WEST VIRGINIA: Teabaggers Use Stephen Colbert Against Gov. Joe Manchin

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Subscribe to Joe.My.God.

Joe. My. God.

—  John Wright

Join the Blend’s live chat with Billy Kennedy, who is challenging GOPer Virginia Foxx

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You all remember Virginia Foxx. She’s the class act who said Matthew Shepard’s murder was a hoax. Seriously:

this — the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.

This year, Foxx has a Democratic opponent, Billy Kennedy. Pam’s hosting a chat with him tonight, which you can join here. Pam has a post with some background on Kennedy here.




AMERICAblog Gay

—  John Wright

A pleasant surprise phone call – Billy Kennedy dialing for dollars to unseat vile Virginia Foxx

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This was a really interesting and unexpected event. Kate and I were watching VH1 Classics “Best of I Love the 70s” and the phone rings.

Usually if we don’t recognize the phone number we ignore it because it’s usually tele-spam (how many of you have received the urgent “we need to talk to you about reducing your interest rate NOW” from your credit card company that you have zero balance with). Kate this time decided to ask who was calling and it was Billy Kennedy, running for the U.S. Congressional seat in the 5th District of NC currently held by the repulsive, homophobic embarrassment Virginia Foxx.

Since I’ve blogged about Foxx and Kennedy’s campaign several times I thought that he was calling to ask about whether I could do a live blog or some fundraising pitch on the Blend, but he actually was just dialing for dollars outside of his district with the usual list, and I was on it. I don’t think my name clicked at first, but as we continued our conversation he made the connection.

He started laughing because I was the last person on the call list for the evening and he hadn’t made the connection. Anyway, I told him that it would be great to have him on the Blend for a liveblog to talk about Foxx’s poor record of serving her district and what he plans to bring to the table.

What he has said in the past:

I will not run a wedge campaign. I want to focus on what all of us can do to improve our lives. I plan to listen to my constituents and hear what’s important to them because I respect other people’s points of view. I will not allow my opponent to play “gotcha” politics on these questions of individual liberty.

I want to make it clear. I support freedom and equal rights for all people. I will protect all individual constitutional rights, without allowing politicians to pick and choose which Amendments deserve to be taken seriously.

Even when a candidate or political party wins an election through the use of a wedge issue, once they arrive in Washington they do nothing to further its cause. That is when it becomes painfully clear that the candidate never had any real commitment to the issue itself. The candidate simply used the issue to try to fool the people and win the election at any cost.

So once Billy recalled PHB, he was excited about the prospect of a liveblog, as he’s done them on DKos as well as Crooks & Liars and it would be nice to give him as boost – the 5th deserves better. We will have a date for a liveblog soon.  
Pam’s House Blend – Front Page

—  John Wright

Rabid anti-gay Virginia AG not giving in

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Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is not giving in on removing sexual orientation from the non-discrimination policies of the state universities.

We reported that Cuccinelli ordered the Virginia state universities to remove language from their policies and that Gov. Robert McDonnell reversed that decision with his own order.

According to the Washington Post, McDonnell issued an executive directive, which is not legally binding. Cuccinelli said that state law doesn’t cover sexual orientation and only the General Assembly can change that.

Equality Virginia called on the governor to appoint a special counsel to enforce his directive and to push for changes to the state’s law.

—  David Taffet

Va. governor reverses attorney general on anti-gay discrimination

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Gov. Robert McDonnell
Gov. Robert McDonnell

A week after Ken Cuccinelli, the new Republican attorney general of Virginia, directed state universities to eliminate sexual orientation from their nondiscrimination policies, the new Republican governor, Robert F. McDonnell, has stepped into the controversy.

He has issued an executive order that replaces one he issued last month. This time he included sexual orientation. He said:

“We will not tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation or any other basis that’s outlawed under state or federal law or the Constitution, and if it is reported, then I will take action, from reprimand to termination, to make sure that does not occur. I believe this properly takes care of it and assures the good people of Virginia that we will absolutely not have discrimination in this state.”

—  David Taffet