Homophobia in the Law

The Attorney General of Virginia is asking for unprecedented repeal of anti-discrimination laws:

Ken Cuccinelli II has urged the state's public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, arguing in a letter sent to each school that their boards of visitors had no legal authority to adopt such statements.

In his most aggressive initiative on conservative social issues since taking office in January, Cuccinelli (R) wrote in the letter sent Thursday that only the General Assembly can extend legal protections to gay state employees, students and others -- a move the legislature has repeatedly declined to take as recently as this week.

This is a horrific request and all I can think of when I see intentional discrimination like this is slavery.  A couple hundred years ago, people all over this country thought that slavery was morally legitimate, and half the country seceded in order to maintain laws which would keep the practice in place.  At the time, it was more of an monetary need than anything else, as the entire economy of the southern half of the country was dependent on a steady supply of extremely cheap labor.

This however, is an entirely moral issue.  Just as you'd be very hard pressed to find very many people in this country today who would support a return to legalized slavery, I hope you'll find the same about sexual discrimination in 100 years.  I think it's pathetic that we might have to wait that long to at least outlaw this form of bigotry.