Saturday, May 12, 2012

The Family Foundation Attacks Gay Judicial Nominee

Not surprisingly, the gay-haters at The Family Foundation - the toxic Virginia affiliate of Focus on the Family and FRC - are absolutely beside themselves that an openly gay man has been nominated for a judgeship on Richmond, Virginia;s General District Court.  The height of the hypocrisy is that the hate merchants are alleging that the personal opinions of the nominee, Tracy Thorne-Begland, might impact his decisions on the bench.  As if the personal opinions of the husband of TFF's Empress of Hate, Victoria Cobb (pictured at left), don't impact his decisions in his position within Bob "Governor Ultrasound" McDonnell's administration.  The Washington Post looks at the spittle flying fast and furiously at TFF.  Here are excerpts:

Tracy Thorne-Begland was booted from the Navy 20 years ago, after coming out as a gay man on national TV to challenge the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.  Now his activism in gay rights is complicating his efforts to land another job, this time as a state judge.

The deputy commonwealth attorney for Richmond has been nominated to serve as a judge for the city’s 13th General DistrictCourt. The Family Foundation of Virginia issued a statement Friday opposing his appointment, arguing that his outspokennesson behalf of gay rights makes him unsuitable for the impartial role of judge.

“The question is, will his personal political agenda take precedent over Virginia law and the Constitution?” the Family Foundation statement reads. “Is he going to uphold laws he clearly and very publicly disagrees with? What does he believe is the role of the courts in moving in a more ‘progressive’ direction?

“There is additional concern that, once appointed, a progressively minded judge would be fast-tracked by a Democrat Governor or President to a higher court, like the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals for example,” the statement continues.

Thorne-Begland, a former board member of the gay-rights group Equality Virginia, “rose to prominence in the early 90s with an appearance on Nightline coming out as an openly gay Naval Officer,” according to the group’s Website. He has since spoken out in favor of gay marriage. He and his partner, a Richmond lawyer, are raising twins.

Again, Ms. Cobb - or the Empress of Hate as I will henceforth refer to her - has no problem whatsoever with Christofascists injecting their personal views and political opinions into the law (Attorney General Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli is but one example - as is Governor Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell), but no one else is supposed to be allowed similar rights and opinions.  Cobb ALWAYS wants special rights for Christofascists and typically the Virginia GOP is only to willing to kiss her bigoted ass. 

P.S. Interestingly enough, all FRC references have been scrubbed from TFF's website since FRC was named a registered hate group.  The Southern Poverty Law Center needs to add The Family Foundation itself to the list.

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