Yesterday, we learned that recently inaugurated Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell rescinded discrimination protection for gay and lesbian state workers. McDonnell issued an executive order that replaced a policy issued by the previous governor and current Democratic Party chair, Tim Kaine, who updated the policy to prevent unfair treatment based on sexual orientation during his early days in office.If this surprises you, you weren't paying attention last fall. During the campaign for the governor's seat, the Washington Post unearthed a master's dissertation McDonnell wrote at right-wing Regent University. In the thesis, McDonnell wrote that the government should "restrain, punish and deter" homosexuality, and privilege married couples over "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." Sounds like that's exactly what he's doing in office.
Of course, when the thesis -- written in 1989 -- became public, McDonnell argued that it wasn't representative of his career in government and that his campaign was focused on jobs. However, he had spent his time as a state legislator supporting a zero-exceptions anti-choice policy and promoting covenant marriage, which makes divorces harder to obtain. The fact that he advocated those policies, which were featured in the thesis, and also said that sexual orientation "raised questions" about a judge's qualifications, suggest that this document really is part of his blueprint for governing.
McDonnell is a far-right social conservative who ran a very good centrist campaign for governor, telling reporters and voters that his views had changed and that he did not support government discrimination. Some pundits even said that his thesis should be off-limits for discussion, despite the fact he wrote it as an adult. Now that he's in office, his true colors are showing. Don't be shocked -- expect more to come.
-- Tim Fernholz
