This week, Second-Lady Karen Pence started part-time work at the Immanuel Christian School in Northern Virginia, a school she reportedly worked at for 12 years previously.

But shortly after her work was made public, the Huffington Post reported on policies at the school that essentially banned gay, lesbian and gender-nonconforming students and educators.

Within the school’s application for incoming families, officials wrote that the school reserved the right to refuse admission to students, “participating in, supporting, or condoning sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bi-sexual activity.” They also have contracts forbidding employees from participating in “homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female.”

The policies within the contracts shine a light on the debate surrounding employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in Virginia. Virginia is one of 29 states that doesn’t have laws prohibiting such employment discrimination, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Both the District of Columbia and Maryland do.

In fact, in 2016 the state legislature tried to pass a bill that forbid the government from withholding funding to business owners who acted on religious or moral beliefs by not providing services or employment to others based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Authors of the bill characterized it as a means to promote religious liberty, while opponents called it a “license to discriminate.” The governor vetoed the bill.

But Virginians may see protections for LGBTQ people in state law soon. During the last election, Democrats took over 15 Republican-held house seats in the state— reducing the GOP majority to 51-49 in the House and 21-19 in the Senate. Multiple Republican lawmakers who proposed conservative social ideas, like the right to withhold services or employment based on religious beliefs, lost their seats.

Now multiple bills protecting LGBTQ peoples from housing and employment discrimination are moving through the General Assembly.

“Allowing discrimination in the workplace is bad for business. It is bad for our economy and discrimination is bad for our workers and families,” said Senator Adam Ebbin in an interview.

Ebbin is the first openly gay member of Virginia’s General Assembly. He is the author of one of the bills moving through the legislature that prohibits public employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill passed its first committee vote with bipartisan support on Monday, 11 lawmakers in favor and three against.

But his bill only prevents employment discrimination in public agencies like state and local governments, which means private schools like Immanuel Christian School can continue to hire and fire employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“We can’t ask the private sector to do what the government is not doing,” said Ebbin. “I do support private sector protections and think this is an important step…Also, as much as I support protections for all Virginians working, I think this [bill] meets with the most widespread approval. Approval is not necessary to do the right thing, but I think we should start with this.”

There is one more comprehensive state bill that addresses employment discrimination in both public and private entities in Virginia, but the bill has failed to pass the last four years it was proposed. Its author Mark Levin, a Democrat from Alexandria, is not optimistic that it will pass this year.

“In Virginia, I am quite confident that every single Democratic member of the General Assembly supports nondiscrimination,” says Levine, speaking about his bill. “If it actually got to the floor I think it would pass, but [Republicans] kill it before it gets to the floor.”

As far as federal law is concerned, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 forbids educational institutions that receive federal funds to discriminate based on sex, which has been interpreted to include sexual orientation. But the law includes a religious exemption, allowing educational institutions to circumvent the rule.

Nicholas Freitas, a Republican from Culpeper who supported the 2016 bill forbidding the government from withholding funding to businesses owners, did not respond to our request for comment in time for the story.

This story was originally published on WAMU.