Current Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell earned the nickname "Taliban Bob" back five years ago when he spear headed the drive to deny Verbena Askew, a black female judge in Newport News, reappointment on to the bench due to rumors that Askew might - Heaven forbid - be a lesbian. As CNS News reported at the time:
*Delegate Robert McDonnell (R-Virginia Beach) recently said Askew's homosexuality might prevent her from being sworn in for a second eight-year term. Virginia's "crimes against nature" law strictly prohibits anal and oral sex between consenting adults, regardless of gender.Speaking as chairman of the Virginia House Committee on Courts of Justice, McDonnell reportedly said Askew's homosexual conduct "certainly raises some questions about the qualifications to serve as a judge."Askew is the first female African-American circuit court judge in Virginia and one of 60 judges statewide whose terms expire this year.
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Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute in Washington, D.C., added that people who are openly homosexual make their sexuality part of their identity."I don't think there's any homosexual without the 'sexual'. In other words, this idea of identity without actions is nonsense, it's non-existent," Knight said. "To forge an identity based on engaging in a wrongful activity such as homosexuality shows, at the least, lack of judgment."
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McDonnell, a regent Law Scholl graduate, who "could not recall" if he had ever violated Virginia's sodomy law by a news reporter (the law, which outlawed pretty much anything other than missionary position heterosexual sex, was struck down by the ruling in Lawrence v. Texas), has opposed any form of legal rights for gays at every opportunity. Moreover, in a non-binding opinion, he opined that Virginia's Governors do not have the power to protect LGBT citizens by way of executive orders. Now, as the Washington Blade has reported, the are questions about enforcement of employment non-discrimination protections put in place by former Governor Mark Warner and renewed by Governor Tim Kaine in the form of Executive Order 1 (2006). Investigations typically take about 120 days, while this one has languished for well over a year. Check out the Blade article and draw your own conclusions.
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