The Republican Party is keeping discrimination alive and strong in West Virginia
Gov. Patrick Morrisey addresses the public during his first State of the State speech on Feb. 12, 2025, where he called to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the state. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
We have just 11 days left of the legislative session, and 26 bills have made it to the governor's desk.
The success of the Legislature isn't based on how many bills it passes — it's if those bills are helping West Virginians.
Let's start with the good bills.
Senate Bill 283 would require students to take a personal finance class in order to graduate high school. I'm not a fan of the Legislature dictating what schools should be teaching — they don't even know their own governing body's rules — but this is an important life skill.
Not everyone's family will teach them how to budget or how to file taxes, or even how to write a check. Some of us are 'blessed' with anxiety (I'm talking about me), and are cautious with our spending. Some people are more laissez faire and might spend, spend, spend and not worry about savings or paying bills when they first start out on their own. Honestly, it's surprising that schools haven't already been teaching some sort of personal finance — it's not all just common sense.
Senate Bill 8 also does some good. It provides additional sites and devices for newborn safe surrender. These are sites where someone can drop off a baby without any legal repercussions for abandonment.
It would also be good if the Legislature passed a few bills that offered more support to people with kids. They could help make child care more affordable and widely available, and ensure parents have paid parental leave.
There are already almost 5,900 children in foster care, and I don't see the Legislature doing anything to try to get those numbers down. Which brings us to the bills that harm, not help West Virginians. Those include bills that make voting more difficult and eliminate ranked-choice voting (which already wasn't a thing in West Virginia).
And we can't forget the transphobic legislation — Senate Bill 456, which is described as a bill to define 'men' and 'women,' but really is just putting a target on transgender people's backs.
The House is also considering another anti-LGTBQ+ bill that could soon be on its way to the governor. The Senate has already passed Senate Bill 579, which would cancel out local municipalities Fairness Acts.
That's right, the party of 'small government' is pushing for a bill that would prohibit city councils and county commissions from establishing their own nondiscrimination ordinances because the state won't pass its own.
One West Virginia Republican thinks that racism isn't a problem anymore.
'I don't know where this came from, this idea that we are a racist country, that we don't give equality to women or to different religions or whatever the case may be,' said Sen. Scott Fuller, R-Wayne, in support of banning diversity, equity and inclusion in state government. 'Does [racism] exist? I'm sure it does. This is not a perfect world, we don't live in a perfect society, but to the point that it's a problem? I really don't believe it.'
The Republican Party is keeping discrimination alive and strong in West Virginia by passing these bills that target LGBTQ+ people, refusing to pass the Crown Act and eliminating DEI initiatives.
Democrats in both the House and Senate have introduced bills for the Crown Act. Why are Republicans so scared to make discrimination based on hairstyle and texture illegal?
How can anyone say that diversity, equity and inclusion are bad things? What's so terrible about inclusion? Senate President Randy Smith is the sole sponsor on the bill for Gov. Patrick Morrisey's executive order. Governor, please tell West Virginians what it is specifically you don't like about diversity.
DEI programs have benefitted white women as well as LGTBQ+ people, veterans and people with disabilities. I often hear people say they think that DEI leads to less qualified people getting a job over the most qualified white male candidate, and that's just not the case.
In other words, those programs have helped West Virginians. That's the West Virginia I want to live in — where we help each other and not hate each other.
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