Virginia Board Defies Homophobic Attorney General

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA)

From Metro Weekly:

...In June 2010, the Board of Juvenile Justice issued new rules for residential facilities retaining the LGBT protections. But in July 2011, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and Cuccinelli refused to sign off on the new rules, as they applied to residential facilities, as long as they contained LGBT protections. 

In January 2012, Cuccinelli went a step further and threatened to deny board members legal representation in the event a lawsuit was lodged challenging the nondiscrimination provisions. While a similar threat worked in influencing the state Board of Social Services to approve regulations restricting potential adoptive and foster parents for a number of characteristics – including sexual orientation – the members of the Board of Juvenile Justice were not swayed.

The board eventually amended the language to prohibit ''discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, disability [or discrimination that violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution, such as sexual orientation],'' and submitted the language for review by the attorney general's office in March. Cuccinelli's office refused to approve the regulations, saying that the bracketed provision providing LGBT protections was ''not within the authority of the Board of Juvenile Justice to promulgate.''

Despite pushback from the attorney general, the Juvenile Justice Board refused to strip away the protections for LGBT youth. But in order to get the language approved, the board further amended the regulation to prohibit “discrimination in violation of the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and state and federal statutes and regulations” in residential facilities.

Rather than enumerating various characteristics, the regulation instructs facilities to assess whether a resident belongs to a “vulnerable population.” If that determination is made, the facility must act to protect that resident’s health and safety...