Kaine’s Stand On LGBT Issues

GayRVA Staff
GayRVA Staff
April 7, 2011

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With this week’s announcement of Tim Kaine running for U.S. Senate, we take a closer look at his stand on LGBT rights.

After Thursday’s posting, we received this e-mail from a reader:

Tim Kaine did not support equal rights for Gay people nor did he support any type of marriage or civil unions for same sex couples. He sighted his religious upbringing as the reason. Has he suddenly changed?

Most recently in his video posted July 2010 as chair of the Democratic National Committee, Tim Kaine spoke on his parties role in adoptions, visitations, hate crime legislation, medical leave, housing discrimination, LGBT organizations represented in the UN , Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and ENDA – mentioning as governor of Virginia, he signed an executive order that included protections for LGBT Virginians in non-discrimination and state employment.

That video below:

Kaine’s executive order was tested in 2006 when a Virginia Museum of Natural History employee was fired for being openly gay when the organization’s executive director that he objected on religious grounds to working with a homosexual.  Kaine is criticized for not stepping up to defend the order.

As Governor, Kaine also supported the Marshall-Newman Amendment which barred same-sex marriage in the state of Virginia back in 2006.  This blog includes a timeline of Kaine’s consistent stance on the topic.

On the current hot-button issue of same-sex adoption, policy changes are influx that first appeared when Kaine was governor.  The Times-Dispatch reports Kaine’s stance below:

Asked about the proposed change that started under his administration, Kaine said this week that the sexual orientation prohibition was added into the regulations by the Social Services board. He said it never came to his desk as governor, but that someone in McDonnell’s shop did sign to have the regulatory process continue.

“I will state unequivocally I do not believe that agencies that work with adoption should discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation or any other ground other than the best interest of the child,” Kaine said. “That should be the criteria. They should not discriminate in placing for adoption or foster care.”

What’s the verdict?