[Contact: Sam Bosch -- district30@senate.virginia.gov]

Richmond, VA – Senate Bill 701, a measure to protect Virginia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) state employees from workplace discrimination, passed the Senate with a 24-16 vote.

"We're going to press forward with this momentum," said Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), a co-chief patron of the bill. "No state employee should ever doubt Virginia's commitment to equal opportunity for all. This assures state employees that they will be judged solely on their merits and that discrimination has no place in Virginia." Ebbin first sponsored similar legislation in 2007 as a member of the House of Delegates and has done so every year since.

The bill has received support from 46 co-patrons in both in the House and Senate. Equality Virginia, who lobbied in support of SB701, recorded over 11,000 messages to General Assembly members in support of the legislation.

Of Virginia’s top 25 private employers, at least 80 percent have nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation and 60 percent also include gender identity. The legislation, if passed by the House of Delegates and signed by the Governor, would ensure that LGBT state employees are awarded the same protections against discrimination as are employees at a majority of top private sector employers in Virginia.

Speaking about SB701, Senator Ebbin said “it is time that Virginia law reflect the opinion of its citizenry.” Similarly, Senator Don McEachin (D-Henrico)—the other co-chief patron—commented that “the people must continue to lead the legislature and remind the House that Virginia is an open state and welcoming to all folks as we move this bill ahead.”

Senator Ebbin noted that in 1970, Governor Lynwood Holton signed the first executive order prohibiting discrimination in state employment, but that it was not until 35 years later when Governor Mark Warner issued an executive order expanding those protections to include sexual orientation. Governor Tim Kaine reissued that executive order upon taking office, but Governor McDonnell did not follow suit.

In a statement, now-Senator Warner lauded the Senate vote and wrote “Today, the principles of equal opportunity and fairness represent official policy for virtually every major employer in Virginia and across the country. I am very, very pleased today to see the Virginia Senate approve this commonsense protection for Virginia’s LGBT workers, making equal opportunity for state and local government employees a permanent part of the Code of Virginia so that it does not have to be renewed every four years through an executive order.”

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