Virginia GOP House Candidate To Rally Clergy Against Gays

As readers may recall, Virginia 5th congressional district Republicans in a parking lot "drive by convention" rejected the Republican incumbent, Representative Denver Riggleman due to Riggleman's unpardonable sin of officiating at a same sex wedding of two gay Republicans.  Ironically, Rigglemen was viewed as a sure thing for reelection in November, 2020.  In Riggleman's place, the Virginia GOP nominated right wing loon Bob Good (pictured at left), who has ties to Liberty University, a nut bag "university" founded by the late Jerry Falwell, a true enemy of LGBT Virginians.  Now, Good is making attacking gays and assailing Virginia's new non-discrimination laws a hallmark of his campaign for a district Republicans are viewed as less assured to hold.  The whole situation exemplifies the ever growing extremism if the Virginia GOP - and also coincides with the party's inability to win a statewide race since 2009. The New York Times looks at the blatant gay bashing and hysteria that is a key piece of Good's campaign.  One can only hope he goes down to defeat as too extreme even for his gerrymandered district which lumps Charlottesville, perhaps Virginia's most liberal city, with reactionary rural areas. And yes, Good is seemingly the darling of white supremacists.  Here are highlights from the Times piece:

Bob Good, a self-described “biblical conservative” who is the Republican nominee for a House seat in his conservative Central Virginia district, is hoping to rally clergy members with meetings this week attacking a new state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which he characterizes as an assault on religious liberty.

And in at least one of the invitations directed at clergy members and Republican county leaders, which was obtained by The Times, the organizers of the event make clear that they intend to leverage anti-L.G.B.T.Q. sentiment in the district to generate enthusiasm for Mr. Good.

The offensive language about transgender people came in an invitation signed by Travis Witt, a former Virginia Tea Party official who identified himself as the Faith Coalition leader for Mr. Good’s campaign. The subject heading of the invitation was “Re: when a man becomes a woman.”

Mr. Good’s campaign has scheduled a series of six “Virginia Liberty Summits for Pastors” in three cities to discuss the new law.

“Religious liberty in America is under assault like never before,” said an Eventbrite posting for one of the meetings, scheduled for Tuesday at a Charlottesville church. “Failure to act in its defense is concession, and if we fail to act religious freedom in America will be lost, not just for our generation, but for the next.”

[T]he invitation, along with other language in Mr. Good’s campaign, illustrates just how far to the right Virginia Republicans have veered, taking positions that have prompted worries from some party members.

With the party badly fractured, the Republican-leaning Fifth Congressional District in Central Virginia is now on the radar screen of Democrats as possibly within reach. It is one of only four seats held by Republicans in the state’s 11-member delegation to the House of Representatives.

Cameron Webb, the Democratic candidate facing Mr. Good, is a practicing physician who also teaches at the University of Virginia. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, citing Mr. Webb’s performance in the Democratic primary, has pledged assistance to his campaign. If elected, Mr. Webb would become the first Black physician in Congress.

“The G.O.P. is likely hoping that Good can win without outside intervention, but Webb’s resource advantage and the currently poor G.O.P. environment nationally, if it persists, may force their hand,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a political newsletter at the University of Virginia, which still regards the district as Republican-leaning. Mr. Kondik said the key to a victory for Mr. Webb would be high Black turnout in southern parts of the district, which stretches from the outer Washington, D.C., suburbs to the North Carolina line.

“We’re in the middle of a pandemic that has infected over 100,000 Virginians and a recession that has put millions across the country out of work, but all Bob Good wants to focus on is same-sex marriages,” said Grant Fox, a spokesman for the Virginia Democratic Party. “Virginians need help, and Bob Good is spending his time convening church officials to figure out how to best discriminate against the L.G.B.T.Q. community.”

When Mr. Good was elected to the Campbell County Board of Supervisors in 2015, he signed a resolution declaring the U.S. Supreme Court “lawless” for legalizing same-sex marriage nationally. He also voted for a county resolution urging that the state and federal governments “not recognize gender identity as a protected class” and allow Campbell County to bar transgender people from public restrooms.

In addition to anti-L.G.B.T.Q. statements, Mr. Good has taken policy positions against immigration and in favor of making English the nation’s official language. Mr. Good also failed to disavow comments made by a key supporter, Eddie Deane, that surfaced on social media this year. . . . In the clip, Mr. Deane went on a diatribe against a Black Lives Matter march, using racist and homophobic language.

On July 1, Virginia became the first Southern state with a statute prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The invitation to pastors in Central Virginia, obtained by The New York Times, cites the new law as a call to action.

Those who might feel inclined to donate to Good's Democrat opponent can do so here.