Ebbin and Others Denounce Virginia GOP Ticket
Senator joined by Equality Virginia's Parrish and Del. Herring in decrying nominees' records
Two Democratic legislators and the head of a nonprofit organization advocating for LGBT rights in Virginia held a press call Tuesday to condemn the anti-LGBT records and rhetoric used by the GOP’s statewide candidates, specifically Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, candidate for governor, and lieutenant governor nominee E.W. Jackson.
Virginia’s only out member of the General Assembly, Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax Co.); Del. Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria), chair of the state Democratic Party; and James Parrish, executive director of LGBT-rights organization Equality Virginia Advocates, held the conference call to focus attention on the ”extreme and dangerous agenda” of the GOP nominees, chosen over the weekend at the state Republican Party’s closed convention.
Adam Ebbin
(File photo)
”Even as we make progress on these important issues around the country, what we have seen in Virginia is a continued resistance by many Republicans to treat all of our citizens equal under the law,” Herring said. ”What is unique about this Republican ticket, however, particularly when it comes to Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson, is the ferocity and blatant offensiveness of their rhetoric when it comes to gay and lesbian Virginians.”
Throughout the call, the three sought to portray Cuccinelli and Jackson’s rhetoric as not just hurtful to LGBT people and unnecessarily incendiary, but dangerous to Virginia’s business-friendly reputation.
”Virginians can have earnest disagreements about policy issues, but the manner in which Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson have demonized fellow Virginians who happen to be gay is divisive, dangerous and mean-spirited,” Herring said. ”It is also damaging to our commonwealth’s reputation as an inclusive and results-oriented place to live, work and do business.”
”Why would a business that values nondiscrimination in the workplace bring their companies to a commonwealth whose governor and lieutenant governor have made a career leveling vicious attacks on gay and lesbian Virginians?” she continued. ”This shouldn’t be what our government should focus on. But it will be if Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson get elected.”
Ebbin said that in the short time since the GOP convention there’s been an amazing amount of attention paid to the nominees’ previous comments, adding that members of the LGBT community who have contacted him are particularly concerned – even ”frightened” – about the possibility of a Cuccinelli governorship, and have asked how they can help defeat the GOP nominees in the fall. He also brought the issue back to economics, citing the 2010 decision by aerospace and defense giant Northrop Grumman to relocate to Virginia. which he said was almost derailed by Cuccinelli’s efforts to eliminate nondiscrimination protections at the state’s public colleges and universities. It was only after Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) intervened that the deal was saved, Ebbin said.
”The truth is that Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson’s cruel comments don’t just represent the biases of the past, they represent a threat to Virginia as a welcoming place to do business,” he said. ”In this century, it matters to business whether a state is welcoming to all. And Cuccinelli, Jackson and Obenshain set the wrong tone and are far from welcoming. Cuccinelli’s divisive bias is wrong, but it also hurts Virginia and our ability to attract the businesses of the future to the commonwealth.”
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