Civil Rights News: Boeing Union Fight, Half of VA for Gay Marriage, ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ Debate

Feud over nonunion Boeing plant crosses state, party lines
The Miami Herald

The fight against worker’s unions moves to the national stage as The Boeing Company pits state against state. “Lawmakers from South Carolina and Washington state feuded Thursday over a bid by the top lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board to prevent Boeing from making Dreamliner 787s at a nonunion plant near Charleston, S.C., instead of at its current hub in Everett, Wash.” At a Feb. 25, 2011 rally in Boeing’s Everett, Wash. plant, the company claimed that the $35 billion contract it had secured would render Washington state a total of $693 million in annual income and protect or create 11,000 jobs. In less than three months, though, Boeing has reconsidered because of the “favorable business environment in South Carolina for manufacturing companies like Boeing.”

Virginians are almost evenly split on gay marriage, Post poll finds
The Washington Post

A Washington Post poll found that “Forty-seven percent of Virginians say gay couples should be allowed to legally wed, and 43 percent are opposed, according to the poll. Fifty-five percent of Virginians say gay couples should be able to legally adopt children.” In 2006, Virginia added “a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions.”

Retired general warns of ‘rush’ to end ‘don’t ask’
The Washington Post

Lt. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon “is concerned that repeal of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy will cause problems with morale and mean the military will be less ready and able to fight.” Mixon, recently retired after serving 35 years in the Army, asks: “‘There’s a good number of people in the military who, whether for reasons of religious faith or moral conscience, view homosexuality as unacceptable,’ he said. ‘How do we protect those folks’ right to serve?’” However, J. Alexander Nicholson III, executive director of Servicemembers United, said “‘His frankly outdated views are in contradiction to the will of the American people,’ who ‘overwhelmingly support’ lifting the ban.’”

Compiled by Sergio Azcona, a Spring intern