You can’t make this stuff up.
Via WaPo:
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is putting out the welcome mat for Indiana business leaders who might be troubled by that state’s new “religious freedom” law, which opponents say in effect legalizes anti-gay discrimination.
In a letter submitted Monday to the editor of the Indianapolis Star, McAuliffe (D) makes a pitch for relocating to “open and welcoming” Virginia. He ticks off the commonwealth’s traditional business-friendly assets — ranging from low taxes to the “deepest seaport on the East Coast” — and suggests that the Old Dominion’s gay rights climate should be part of the draw.
“In Virginia, we do not discriminate against our friends and neighbors, particularly those who are supporting local businesses and generating economic activity,” he writes.[…]
McAuliffe has made economic development a priority for his administration, and he has often cast his efforts to expand gay rights and abortion rights as part of that broader job-creation goal. But his sales pitch to Hoosiers is interesting in part because Virginia is not widely considered to be gay-friendly territory, despite McAuliffe’s efforts to push the state in that direction. […]
McAuliffe’s letter to the Star drew objections from Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia, a group with sizeable sway in the Capitol. She sought to use his rosy portrayal of Virginia’s gay rights status as proof that there is no need to enshrine special protections in state law.
“It’s good to see that the Governor has conceded that Virginia does not need to elevate sexual behavior to a protected class in order to be an inclusive state, but it’s unfortunate that he has joined the parade of those who are distorting the true effect of Religious Freedom Restoration Acts,” she said in an e-mail.
HT: Ruby Two Three