“I regret using any words that hurt people or that make people think I hate them, or that make people think I look down on them.”
—E.W. Jackson, a Republican candidate for Virginia’s U.S. Senate seat, in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch in which Jackson attempted to dispel what he feels are misconceptions about his conservative beliefs.
Jackson previously ran for lieutenant governor in 2013, losing to Ralph Northam in the general election. During that campaign, Jackson came under intense criticism for controversial statements he made about LGBTQ rights, abortion, and a host of other social issues. Some of those statements included calling gay people “very sick” and “perverted.”
Attempting to set the record straight, Jackson told the Times-Dispatch that he regrets the tone of his past comments.
He still opposes same-sex marriage and measures that promote LGBTQ equality, such as nondiscrimination laws, but says he hopes to communicate his conservative values in a less offensive manner.
“I am going to endeavor in this campaign to express that in a way that calls attention to my faith, where appropriate, without implying some sort of hostility against gay people or transgender people,” Jackson said. “Because I don’t believe that. And that’s one of the many lessons I’ve learned.”
Jackson, the pastor of The Called — Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va., also attempted to put his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric into context.
He noted that the comments for which he came under fire were “said not in the context of a campaign but on Christian radio where I’m speaking as a pastor and minister to Christians.”
He also claims that if he were to see someone bullying a gay or transgender person, he would step in “and physically fight for them.”
Jackson is one of four GOP candidates currently running for the seat held held by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.
Also seeking the party’s nomination is Corey Stewart, a former Prince William County supervisor who almost toppled Ed Gillespie in this year’s Republican primary after running a Trump-style campaign seizing on preserving Confederate monuments as a way of opposing “political correctness.”
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) has introduced a bill to ban transgender women from female-designated restrooms and other sex-segregated facilities in U.S. Capitol facilities.
The resolution would prohibit members, officers, and employees of the U.S. House of Representatives from using single-sex facilities that do not align with their assigned sex at birth.
The bill was introduced following the election of U.S. Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who will be sworn in as the first out transgender member of Congress on January 3, 2025.
The measure charges the House sergeant-at-arms, William McFarland, with enforcing the ban.
Maryland's Department of Corrections will pay $750,000 to a transgender inmate who sued the department after being viciously beaten and choked by a corrections officer.
The lawsuit stems from an incident in June 2019, when Amber Maree Canter -- who is currently in custody at the North Branch Correctional Institution in Maryland -- was on pre-trial hold at Baltimore City's Central Booking and Intake Facility.
In her lawsuit, Canter claimed that she had developed a reputation among Central Booking correctional officers as a vocal advocate for transgender rights and frequent critic of some of the facility’s policies prior to the incident, which was sparked by a dispute over Canter being denied recreational time outside of her cell.
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as the next U.S. Attorney General.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said that the Florida Republican "has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice."
Republicans frequently claim that the Justice Department has been weaponized against conservative Americans, citing the charges brought against various people, including prominent gay and bisexual individuals, who participated in the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol; the indictment and conviction on felony charges of arranging a hush-money scheme with the intent of influencing a federal election; and the pursuit of charges against the former and future president for alleged election interference.
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“I regret using any words that hurt people or that make people think I hate them, or that make people think I look down on them.”
—E.W. Jackson, a Republican candidate for Virginia’s U.S. Senate seat, in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch in which Jackson attempted to dispel what he feels are misconceptions about his conservative beliefs.
Jackson previously ran for lieutenant governor in 2013, losing to Ralph Northam in the general election. During that campaign, Jackson came under intense criticism for controversial statements he made about LGBTQ rights, abortion, and a host of other social issues. Some of those statements included calling gay people “very sick” and “perverted.”
Attempting to set the record straight, Jackson told the Times-Dispatch that he regrets the tone of his past comments.
He still opposes same-sex marriage and measures that promote LGBTQ equality, such as nondiscrimination laws, but says he hopes to communicate his conservative values in a less offensive manner.
“I am going to endeavor in this campaign to express that in a way that calls attention to my faith, where appropriate, without implying some sort of hostility against gay people or transgender people,” Jackson said. “Because I don’t believe that. And that’s one of the many lessons I’ve learned.”
Jackson, the pastor of The Called — Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va., also attempted to put his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric into context.
He noted that the comments for which he came under fire were “said not in the context of a campaign but on Christian radio where I’m speaking as a pastor and minister to Christians.”
He also claims that if he were to see someone bullying a gay or transgender person, he would step in “and physically fight for them.”
Jackson is one of four GOP candidates currently running for the seat held held by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.
Also seeking the party’s nomination is Corey Stewart, a former Prince William County supervisor who almost toppled Ed Gillespie in this year’s Republican primary after running a Trump-style campaign seizing on preserving Confederate monuments as a way of opposing “political correctness.”
The other Republicans seeking the seat are Ivan Raiklin, a veteran and D.C. tech investor, and Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper), who introduced a bill that would have allowed individuals and businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people without any consequences, so long as they claimed the discrimination was based on their sincerely held religious beliefs.
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