General Assembly Fact Sheets and Tools

In 2009, Equality Virginia is focusing on two priority legislative initiatives both having to do with ending discrimination at work. They are described more fully below.  

To follow all of the legislation that Equality Virginia is following, bookmark EV's portfolio on Richmond Sunlight and come back often to find out the latest.

2009 General Assembly

Protect Public Employees from Discrimination 

Give Private Employers the Right to Offer Group Life Insurance to Domestic Partners 

Change the Law to Protect Public Employees from Discrimination at Work

HB 2385 (Del. Ebbin, D Alexandria)

Every Virginian should have the right to a workplace free from discrimination and committed to equality of opportunity without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity.  Virginia law doesn't currently afford even public employees this basic human right.  Equality Virginia is committed to changing the law to extend this basic protection to all GLBT Virginians.

As a first step toward changing the law for all employees, EV has made it a priority this year to seek changes in the law needed to protect state and local employees (including school teachers) from discrimination in the workplace.  At a time of budget constraints and layoffs, it is more important than ever that the Virginia legislature affirm in the Virginia Code that it is the policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia that no public employee will be subjected to discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Advocacy Tools

Become an effective advocate for change!  Learn how to build the foundation locally for change in Richmond.  Download EV's Advocacy Manual (Adobe Acrobat required) for information on actions you can take, pointers on effective advocacy, draft resolutions and more! 

Learn what the public thinks about changing the law to prohibit discrimination against GLBT employees.  90% of Virginia voters continue to support ending discrimination against public employees according to the most recent survey done by EV's bi-partisan survey research team.  Download the memo describing their key findings which show growing support for GLBT rights over the last three years and strong support  for ending workplace discrimination among all voters statewide regardless of geography, party or race. Use the memo as a tool in your meetings with legislators and local officials about the importance of ending workplace discrimination.

Read the talking points in favor of changing the law to protect public employees from discrimination.  Learn the answers to frequently asked questions about the legislation.

Write your Delegate and Senator about why you support changing the law to protect state and local employees from workplace discrimination.

Change the Law to Give All Virginia Employers the Freedom to Offer Group Life Insurance to Domestic Partners

HB 1726 (Del. Rust, R Herndon)

SB 945 (Sen. Howell, D Reston)

In 2005, Equality Virginia was successful in helping to change the law that prohibited private employers from offering health insurance to the domestic partners of their employees (or any other adult living in the employee's household, like a mother-in-law, an adult child over a specified age, or the assistant for a disabled person).  Passage of the Small Business Insurance Parity Act simply removed restrictions in state law that had taken from employers the freedom to negotiate with insurance companies to cover persons other than the spouses and dependent children of their employees.

The law left one aspect of group benefits unchanged, however.  Virginia employers still don't have the right to offer group life insurance coverage to the domestic partners of their employees (or any other adult living in the employee's household, like a mother-in-law, an adult child over a certain age, or the assistant for a disabled person).

It's time to change the law again to allow the free market to work, and permit employers and insurers to negotiate the terms of employee benefits packages as they choose without government interference.

Advocacy Tools

Read the talking points in favor of changing the law to give private employers more freedom to offer group life insurance coverage to the domestic partners of their employees.

Write your Delegate and Senator about why you support changing the law to remove state restrictions on group insurance policies offered by small business employers.