By: Olympia Meola
Published: March 14, 2010 2:35 PM
After a week consumed by angry reaction to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s opinion that there is no legal basis for the state’s public colleges to protect gay students and employees from bias based on sexual orientation, Cuccinelli penned an op-ed in today’s T-D to explain.
“As a legal matter, this statement of Virginia law has not been seriously challenged. While issues related to sexual orientation are among the most emotional and controversial, they do not change this fundamental proposition of Virginia law,” he wrote. “My now well-publicized letter simply stated the current state of Virginia law; it did not advocate for any particular legislative position. Should the General Assembly change the law, my advice will be consistent with it.”
Cuccinelli said that “Over the past six weeks, I received a number of inquiries about the inclusion of sexual orientation as a specially protected class” but still won’t disclose which schools asked.
In the missive, Cuccinelli repeatedly reminds that it’s the legislature’s purview to add the sexual oritentation protection to state law and it has chosen not to do so—including again this year when measures were snuffed by the GOP-majority House.
“The people of the commonwealth, through their elected representatives, determine Virginia’s laws. I cannot bend the law to fit a particular outcome, no matter what a person or group might wish, myself included” Cuccinelli wrote. “I have simply stated what is and is not currently permissible under the laws of Virginia. That is my job as attorney general.”
The Rev. Dr. David Ensign, pastor of Clarendon Presbyterian Church in Arlington and a board member of People of Faith for Equality in Virginia, wrote an opposing op-ed, in which he urged Cuccinelli to reconsider his position.
“If, as Cuccinelli has said, the problem lies in the law, why send a letter to schools informing them of the law’s shortcomings? Why not, instead, use the power of your position to encourage our General Assembly to change the law?” he wrote. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it does bend toward justice. I urge the attorney general to reconsider his position and stand on the right side of history.”
While I can certainly understand the frustration and anger espoused by some, under our system of Trias Politica, it is not in Ken’s role as the AG to be in the legislative branch. Though many may dislike it, this illustrates what “checks and balances” is all about.
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