Long Duck Dong
May 16, 2012, 6:34 AM
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/6935594/US-prosecutor-blocked-for-being-gay
a couple of paragraphs from the article, say more than anything I could say........
.......In a statement, his spokesman said, "The Governor believes candidates for judicial vacancies must be considered based solely on their merit, record, aptitude and skill. No other factors should ever be considered and the Governor has long made clear that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not acceptable in state government. " It fell on deaf ears in a state that apparently believes sexual orientation is in fact the best reason to discriminate......
....Thorne-Begland didn't challenge DADT because he wanted to embarrass the military. He challenged it because he is braver than the rest of us. When he and his fellow pilots stationed at Virginia Beach were told that in a 20-year career, approximately 25 per cent of them would be killed in action (http://rvanews.com/news/open-honest-life/49543), he realised that he would die for his country but he wouldn't lie for it. Integrity, it seems, is only rewarded when you tell the right kinds of lies......
.....Thorne-Begland has been a well-respected state prosecutor for 12 years and was the unanimous choice of the Democrats and Republicans in the Richmond delegation, who advanced his nomination. He was approved by the courts committees in the House and Senate. The attacks on him began only after that vetting process was complete. His career-long advocacy of gay rights issues crossed some invisible line when, as the Family Foundation breathlessly warned, Thorne-Begland had the temerity to actually be "with President Obama when he signed the repeal of DADT.".....
......If we keep refusing to seat any judges who stand up to discrimination, Virginia will continue to be a state that discriminates. And if we only want to seat judges willing to lie about who they are and what they believe in, we may as well stop seating judges at all.......
a couple of paragraphs from the article, say more than anything I could say........
.......In a statement, his spokesman said, "The Governor believes candidates for judicial vacancies must be considered based solely on their merit, record, aptitude and skill. No other factors should ever be considered and the Governor has long made clear that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not acceptable in state government. " It fell on deaf ears in a state that apparently believes sexual orientation is in fact the best reason to discriminate......
....Thorne-Begland didn't challenge DADT because he wanted to embarrass the military. He challenged it because he is braver than the rest of us. When he and his fellow pilots stationed at Virginia Beach were told that in a 20-year career, approximately 25 per cent of them would be killed in action (http://rvanews.com/news/open-honest-life/49543), he realised that he would die for his country but he wouldn't lie for it. Integrity, it seems, is only rewarded when you tell the right kinds of lies......
.....Thorne-Begland has been a well-respected state prosecutor for 12 years and was the unanimous choice of the Democrats and Republicans in the Richmond delegation, who advanced his nomination. He was approved by the courts committees in the House and Senate. The attacks on him began only after that vetting process was complete. His career-long advocacy of gay rights issues crossed some invisible line when, as the Family Foundation breathlessly warned, Thorne-Begland had the temerity to actually be "with President Obama when he signed the repeal of DADT.".....
......If we keep refusing to seat any judges who stand up to discrimination, Virginia will continue to be a state that discriminates. And if we only want to seat judges willing to lie about who they are and what they believe in, we may as well stop seating judges at all.......