Message to Business Groups: Oppose Anti-Gay AG Candidate John Adams

Herring supports equality, Adams opposes it and wants special rights for Christofascists

Four years ago we saw right wing, anti-gay GOP extremist Ken Cuccinelli running for Governor of Virginia.  Thankfully, he went down to defeat and the Commonwealth dogged a very serious bullet. This year we have a slightly more polished but no less extreme candidate running as the Republican candidate for Attorney General.  Like Cuccinelli is largely driven by one thing: his religious extremism and animus towards LGBT citizens.  His ads falsely talk about "taking politics" out of the office of the Attorney General, yet, if elected, his agenda would amount to granting special rights to Christian extremists and persecuting Virginia's LGBT citizens. Adams would become ayatollah in chief for Christofascists organizations like The Family Foundation, Virginia's leading hate group. Compounding Adams' unfitness for office is his affinity for pandering to special interests.  Indeed, much of his legal career has, in my view, been devoted to protecting big banks and ruthless corporations and white collar criminals.  A piece in MetroWeekly looks at an appeal being made to business organizations to reject Adams.  Here are highlights:  

Equality Virginia Advocates, the political action arm of Equality Virginia, is calling on the political action committees of various pro-business groups not to endorse Republican Attorney General candidate John Adams in his bid to unseat AG Mark Herring.

Specifically, EVA wants the Northern Virginia Business PAC, the Hampton Roads Business PAC, and the Northern Virginia Technology Council PAC to weigh and carefully consider whether the anti-LGBTQ statements made by John Adams would send a hostile message to LGBTQ Virginians and their families.

In a letter to the three political action committees, EVA argues that Adams’ on-the-record statements not only opposing marriage equality but LGBTQ rights in general — as well as his urging the Virginia General Assembly to impeach Mark Herring for refusing to defend the commonwealth’s ban on same-sex marriage — are inconsistent with the groups’ purported claims of supporting candidates that will foster a “pro-business” environment.

LGBTQ advocates say, any perceived hostility towards LGBTQ people may make businesses second-guess relocating to or expanding operations in the commonwealth, particularly in light of the backlash that North Carolina received after it passed its controversial HB 2 law, complete with provisions that encouraged discrimination against LGBTQ people.

“Groups supporting Adams for Attorney General will be sending a hostile message to LGBT employees and hurting Virginia’s business-friendly reputation,” EVA writes in the letter to the political action committees. “It is our belief that Adams would use the Attorney General’s office to pursue his own personal anti-equality agenda.”

Given Virginia’s longstanding reputation as a low-tax, business-friendly state (with Democrats and Republicans generally towing the line), the PACs’ decisions on who to endorse are always a politically contentious issue. 

In 2013, the Northern Virginia Business PAC endorsed Herring, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (now running for governor) and Gov. Terry McAuliffe, all Democrats, for office. However, the Northern Virginia Technology Council PAC eagerly endorsed gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, whose LGBTQ record was well-publicized from his stint as both state senator and as Attorney General. Both decisions were roundly criticized by partisans on both sides.

Nonetheless, EVA wants to make its opposition to Adams clear to any business PACs that would think about endorsing him, rather than endorsing Herring, or refusing to issue an endorsement altogether.

Adams has made clear that he will pursue efforts to undermine equal rights as Attorney General. He has continued to vocally oppose marriage equality, even after the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges,” the letter reads. “He has aggressively criticized efforts to protect the rights of transgender individuals, including his apparent support for the widely criticized ban on military service.

“And earlier this year in a speech, he argued for allowing archaic state sodomy laws. These laws, which have been rejected by most Republicans and Democrats for many years, would make it a crime to be gay in Virginia,” EVA writes. “Adams is not just opposed to advancing gay rights, he wants to allow government to actively persecute gay Virginians simply because of who they are. An Attorney General with this type of discriminatory and outdated agenda would send a terrible message about Virginia’s business climate.”

Yes, that's right, Adams wants to bring back the sodomy laws as a means to prosecute Virginians for being gay.