Why Bob McDonnell is No Moderate and an Enemy of Equality

A friend of mine who has been active in the gay rights battle for many, many years - we first met at the Creating Change Conference in Miami in 2003 where I was a workshop panelist on ex-gay programs - has put together a summary of some of Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell's past record that clearly demonstrates that McDonnell is anything but the moderate he now pretends to be. When the Deeds campaign will get off its ass and start making sure the public knows this side of McDonnell remains to be seen. The message needs to get out and soon because I have little faith in the MSM to make the effort needed to fully inform the public that McDonnell's campaign is basically one big lie. Here is the right on point summary which I have enhanced (Don, thanks for connecting the dots):

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1) Bob McDonnell earned his law degree from Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School where he was taught to “think Christianly about the law.” Regent's goal has always been to train lawyers to move into government office and take over the reins to further the Christianists' goals and Biblical world view.

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2) In 2003, McDonnell opposed the reappointment of Newport News Circuit Court Judge Verbena Askew, the first black female circuit court judge in the Commonwealth of Virginia, on the basis that she was rumored to be a lesbian and therefore may have violated Virginia’s “Crimes against Nature” statute which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court later that same year in the Lawrence v. Texas decision.

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3) In 2004, McDonnell wrote and sponsored the anti-gay HB 187 bill, a rudimentary precursor to the Virginia Marriage Amendment that passed in November 2006.

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4) As a member of the House of Delegates, McDonnell was twice honored by The Family Foundation, Daddy Dobson's Virginia affiliate of Focus on the Family as “Legislator of the Year.” The Family Foundation is against abortion in all circumstances, is fanatically anti-gay and supports the GOP's anti-immigrant jihad.

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5) As Attorney General, Bob McDonnell authored a statement which appeared above the Virginia Marriage Amendment ballot denying that it would negatively affect unmarried couples. This ultimately played a role in the amendment’s passing which negatively impacted ALL unmarried couples, gay and straight.

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6) Bob McDonnell tried to reverse Governor Tim Kaine’s Executive Order 1 (2006) banning employment discrimination against gays serving in State Government jobs. In the recent case involving the gay employee fired by the Virginia Museum of Natural History, McDonnell's subordinates actively argued that the Executive Order gave gay employees no protections.

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7) After Christopher Newport University’s Board of Visitors voted to ban anti-gay discrimination admissions or hiring in 2007, Bob McDonnell wrote a letter informing the school that “It would not be legal for the university (or other public institutions in the state, which have done the same thing) to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

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8) Bob McDonnell even went as far as to intervene in a private lawsuit between the Episcopal Church and break away anti-gay parishes on behalf of the anti-gay plaintiffs who sought to take Church properties utilizing a 1860's statute enacted by the Virginia General Assembly so that break away pro-slavery Baptist Churches - these churches eventually became the Southern Baptist Convention - could take properties belonging to the anti-slavery national Baptist denomination.

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In sum, Right Wing Fundamentalism was the foundation of Bob McDonnell’s legal education and has inspired every decision he’s made in his political career. If elected Governor, not only will he support discrimination in Marriage, but in employment as well. If you care about your partner or your job or equality under the civil laws or freedom of religion, say no to Bob McDonnell in November and vote for Creigh Deeds and the full Democrat statewide slate.