Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Ken Cuccinelli More Extreme then E. W. Jackson on Gay Sex





GOP Lt. Governor candidate "Bishop" E. W. Jackson has been getting lots of media coverage because the man is batshit crazy and says all kinds of lunatic things that underscore his extremism - e.g., birth defects and disabilities are "caused by sin."  But when it comes to anti-gay extremism, despite the horrible things Jackson says about gay citizens, Ken Cuccinelli is even more extreme, especially in terms of his desire to outlaw gay sex and to re-criminalize homosexuality.  A piece in Mother Jones looks at just how extreme and anti-gay Cuccinelli is in this regard.  Here are excerpts:


E.W. Jackson, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia, holds awfully extreme views on gay rights and has no qualms about venting them. On his now-dormant personal Twitter feed, as my colleague Tim Murphy pointed out, Jackson frequently aired his hatred toward gays: When President Obama declared June "LGBT Pride Month," Jackson tweeted, "Well that just makes me feel ikky all over." In October 2009, he tweeted, "The 'homosexual religion' is the most virulent anti-Christian bigotry & hatred I've ever seen."

Yet there is one crusade on which Jackson says he doesn't intend to join Cuccinelli: banning gay sex.
Buried in a recent National Review profile of Jackson, who is conservative minister, is this paragraph:

After chatting with attendees, Jackson sat down with me for an interview. While his sermon ended with flair and bombast, he was soft-spoken and earnest as I questioned him about how his religious beliefs interact with his political views. Christian values make us free, Jackson told me, and people should live as they see fit as long as they don’t hurt others. While he opposes same-sex marriage, he said he wouldn’t support any sort of ban on gay sex. He also said there shouldn't be any legal sanction of a religion, and that he would oppose a constitutional amendment naming Christianity as America’s official religion.
The emphasis above is mine. Jackson saying he doesn't support banning gay sex is a significant break from Cuccinelli. Remember, in 2003 the Supreme Court's ruling in the Lawrence v. Texas case struck down anti-sodomy laws at the state level. But Virginia kept its gay-sex ban on the books after Lawrence. Then, in March, the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit deemed that Virginia's anti-sodomy law was unconstitutional. A month later, Cuccinelli, who is Virginia's attorney general, raised eyebrows when he asked the 4th Circuit to rethink its decision. 

Cuccinelli explained his opposition to gay sex in 2009: "My view is that homosexual acts, not homosexuality, but homosexual acts are wrong. They're intrinsically wrong. And I think in a natural law-based country it's appropriate to have policies that reflect that...They don't comport with natural law." This is a long-running fight for Cuccinelli. As far back as 2004, when he was a Virginia state senator, he warned of a plot by the LGBT community to "dismantle sodomy laws" and "get education about homosexuals and AIDS in public schools."

On this issue, though, Cuccinelli and his running mate appear to see things differently. Ken, you might want to call your office.
 Cuccinelli is a frightening menace and MUST be defeated in November.  And women and minorities need to understand that they are in his sights to as he seeks to impose a far right white Christofascist regime on Virginia.
 

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