Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has urged the state's public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, arguing in a letter sent to each school that their boards of visitors had no legal authority to adopt such statements.

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Former attorney general Jerry Kilgore (R) agreed it would be difficult for Cuccinelli to enforce his opinion without pursuing court action. But he said college visitors swear an oath to abide by state statute.

"Board members are required to follow the law," Kilgore said. "And he's telling them what the law is."

Matt Windschitl and Jason Schultz, two Iowa lawmakers, have proposed a bill to explicitly remove gay and lesbian students from anti-bullying policies in state schools.

Gay and lesbian teens are currently protected by the state’s Safe Schools Act, which aims to help students who are being bullied and harassed by ensuring a safe and non-judgmental environment to report incidents. Unacceptable, according to Schultz, who said that he has nothing against gay students, but added that he needs to remove their protections because it will lead to same-sex marriage.

Yes, you read that right. Windschitl and Schultz want to remove anti-bullying measures for gay students—one of the most vulnerable and harassed minorities—from public schools because he opposes an unrelated issue, same-sex marriage. It’s a destructive message for already bullied students, for whom these lawmakers not only have no empathy, but outright disdain.

To make clear whither and whence this post: I have recently seen some icons of Sazh (dark-skinned character from Final Fantasy XIII) that I found objectionable, as did [others]. The icons can be seen below this cut — I did say they are uncomfortably racist, right?

justira