Quayle votes with Dems against discrimination

Local, Politics, Virginia 1 Minute

The Virginia Senate voted 23-17 to pass Sen. Donald McEachin’s SB66 Monday afternoon. The bill prohibits discrimination in public employment and includes sexual orientation. Senator Fred Quayle of Suffolk broke ranks with his Republican colleagues and joined the Democratic majority to pass this bill.

According to The Virginian-Pilot, Quayle voted yea for a rather simple reason:

I just thought it was the right thing to do

Wow. What a concept! Doing the right thing – instead of playing politics – is exactly why we elect these people.  Kudos to Sen. Quayle for recognizing that and being willing to vote in that manner.

By the way – this isn’t the first time Sen. Quayle has broken ranks with his fellow Republicans. Two years ago, he spoke against a cap on real estate taxes, a pretty brave move when you consider that the cap was being touted by a number of Republicans across the Commonwealth as the answer to rising assessments.

Now – can he go over to the House and have a chat with his colleagues there? It would be nice if they did the right thing and passed this bill.

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6 thoughts on “Quayle votes with Dems against discrimination”

  1. Quayle showed a lot of guts here.
    And he did something we need to see more of from our legislators. He looked at the issue on its own merits, detached from whatever the party dogma on a given issue is, and did what he thought made sense.
    And that is what we ought to expect legislators to do.

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  3. Congrats to Quayle and the entire Democratic caucus for this step towards ending discrimination a hatred towards homosexuals. They are are the right side of history while opponents are a generation away from being looked upon as some sort of crazy fringe group.

    Still proof positive that republicans are knuckle dragging neanderthals to be loathed for their embrace of hate and rejection of science.

    Just another example of why I am proud to be a Democrat.

  4. “Still proof positive that republicans are knuckle dragging neanderthals to be loathed for their embrace of hate and rejection of science.”
    Even Quayle? See what happens when you generalize?

  5. I have my issues w/ Sen. Quayle on other matters, but this is not one of them. I’m actually perplexed by the bloc vote by the GOP on this vote.

    When we talk equal access and equal opportunity as principles to abide by for a free market, Republicans ought to be jumping to vote in favor of “no brainer” issues such as prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

    For that matter, how do you REALLY know anyway – but most important, why would you care?

    Please – just get the job done.

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