Youngkin’s ‘almighty creator’ rhetoric in new diversity training offends some state employees - Virginia Mercury

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The administration revised the required course by including religious references from previous talks.

Government Administration Glen Yangkin has released a new multidisciplinary training course that includes two references to "creator" that confuse many employees who find it inappropriate to include training materials for new public servants.

As part of its efforts to enforce the 2020 law, the Yangkin administration is requiring Virginia to provide online culture and diversity training to government employees.

The "creator" lines appear to come from part of Yangkin's commencement speech, which revamped the Office of Diversity, Justice and Inclusion within the Office of Government.

Quoting Jankin's decree , the narrator stated in the manual: "Above all, each of us is made in the image of our Creator." “Since the arrival of the first settlers 400 years ago, we have lived in perfect unity. Sometimes we fail to live up to our ideals, but we all want to do what's right and morally right, even if we can't. It is not the desire for power or victory that burns in the heart of the loving Creator, but the conviction that life is worth living when we serve a cause greater than ourselves.

In a meeting with Mercury Virginia, government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said they were shocked to learn that they had received religious training.

"It was an instant, disgusting and visceral response to the fact that he was wrong on every level," said one of the staff who described himself as an agnostic. "I work for the government. I didn't go to work in the church as I expected."

According to the staff, the text was taken from Yonkin's previous speech.

"It really pisses me off more," he said. "Because he would then publish the agreement, which means that all his plans are centered on the training of civil servants."

Yangkin is open about his Christian beliefs and shortly after the swearing-in ceremony held a public prayer service. Every Virginia General Assembly begins with a prayer from various religious leaders, and it is not uncommon for Virginia politicians on both sides to publicly express their religious beliefs. The Virginia Constitution begins with the section on Religious Liberty and Separation of Church and State: By Force. Or violent”.

Religious laws in the workplace are very complex. Federal protection generally requires employers to treat religious and non-religious workers equally. The Virginia Workers' Handbook definition of harassment includes "hateful or hateful" behavior for religious reasons.

The second official, who completed the training, said after the training that he "felt angry and saddened".

“Politics plays a role in serving the public interest,” said a second employee. But I have never seen clear religious discrimination with the government.

"The new formation will reinforce the governor's commitment to diversity while maintaining the foundation of equality," said Yangkin, a spokesperson for Yangkin. In an email Tuesday, the administration authored the study in conjunction with other government agencies and officials, including the Department of Human Resources Management, Administrative Secretary Lynn McDermid and Commonwealth Secretary Kay James.

Asked about concerns over religious referents, Porter said the language was "borrowed from the Declaration of Independence and other documents of the Founding Fathers of the United States."

“There are still no complaints from staff,” he added. "We appreciate all feedback, as the goal of the training is to teach best practices for all workplaces."

Virginia General Assembly first approves diversity education for public employees in 2020 The first training was led by former Governor Ralph Nortam, the state's first director for diversity, the equity and inclusion.

Yangkin's office greatly enhanced his education by adding religious references. Porter confirmed that the eight-and-a-half-minute video included the administration's general training curriculum for public servants. The module now includes a message from Youngkin, as well as definitions of terms such as diversity, equal opportunity and inclusion.

The video's narrator says: There are also references to specific goals, including synchronizing demographics with agency personnel with general demographics in Virginia.

A former Northham administration official familiar with the development process, the North Modem Model Framework 2021 was developed in conjunction with a Virginia plan to "institutionalize" diversity in public institutions. The official said the first training, which included an interview with a government employee interviewed by Mercury, lasted about an hour, including the chat room, and included examples to encourage specialization and inclusion in units. specialized such as micrograms and in the workplace.

Their statement was confirmed by a request from the state Department of Human Resources. On Wednesday, the agency released a video encouraging staff to reflect on material and engage in inappropriate or unethical behavior during the first edition of the training.

According to the government official, the Yangkin administration's new course has completely eliminated initial interdisciplinary and inclusive language teaching training and practices designed to create compassion among employees from diverse backgrounds. The lack of specific details — as well as religious discourse — made some employees feel neglected by administration, the employee said.

The worker added: 'For some I mean very negligent, for others it's disgusting.

Another official expressed doubts that the modified formation with the former Northham official meets the requirements of the 2020 law, which requires differences in terms of recruitment and employment, including special strategies to create a more inclusive and equitable culture.

"It doesn't look like we're meeting the legal requirements for our video," said the former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. Dell. Elizabeth Guzman, De-Prince William, said the new course falls short of the law's goal after working with voters to match gender identity.

Guzman, for his part, said he should send a request to the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, stressing the need for comprehensive training for low-level employees.

"The governor talks about what he wants to accomplish, but he's been in the job for about five months and we haven't yet seen what he's trying to do to increase the state's international workforce" , Guzman said. "And it's something under his control."

She and the former manager shared concerns that the revised course, including Yangkin's message, initially led to training for government agencies and employees focused solely on the workplace experience. According to a former official, the source did not disclose the status of Norm or any of his political people and hoped the form would "survive outside of administration".

Much of Virginia's early work on redesigning justice and inclusion focused on Yangkin during his presidency. The First Order banned "controversial theories" from public school classrooms, including what it called critical race theory . The order immediately ended a series of initiatives by the state Department of Education to revise the state's general math curriculum in response to concerns about unbalanced testing among Black, Hispanic and American students. low income .

In less than two months since its inception, the administration has eliminated all departmental policies , including educational resources designed to help educators eliminate discrimination in the classroom. The move is part of a broader effort to eliminate the term "equity" from many government agencies , including the appointment of a Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a new position at Northam , Director of Diversity, Opportunity and Inclusion.

Supporters of his case have been working to make the actual transcript of that statement available online. Supporters of his case have been working to make the actual transcript of that statement available online.

Yangkin and other conservatives argue that this promotes widespread racism and drives public policy away from the idea that government action should be racist. In the first directive, the governors teach students to look at life only through the lens of racial segregation, including "divisive theories," and point out that some students are knowingly or unknowingly racist, immoral, or oppressive, etc Students - Victims".

In public, Yangkin has expressed support for concepts such as diversity while avoiding current and historical racism or oppression. In his opening speech, he called on the people of Virginia to unite, citing a country with "great injustices."

"We are one Virginia," she said, adding that their language was included in the state's new diversity education program. "We are all in the same boat."

The ACLU of Virginia said it is investigating.

“ACLU Religious Education in Virginia is deeply concerned about the inclusion of mandatory training for public servants,” said ACLU Senior Counsel Matt Kalahan.

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