With the news that pro-equality Democrat Terry McAuliffe defeated vehemently anti-LGBT Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor’s race, Americans got yet another indication that anti-LGBT politics are in full retreat in 2013. Cuccinelli, who had been one of the most vocally anti-LGBT elected officials in the country and who was once widely considered to be a rising star in conservative politics, will find himself out of political office come January.
In response to the news, HRC President Chad Griffin issued the following statement:
“Ken Cuccinelli clearly believed Virginia voters appreciated his constant barrage of anti-LGBT vitriol. He couldn’t have been more wrong. The Old Dominion’s Democrats, Independents, and Republicans alike don’t want to see their LGBT neighbors discriminated against, and that’s why Terry McAuliffe’s fair-minded and pro-equality vision for Virginia decisively won the day.
“All around the country, politicians who demonize their LGBT constituents should take notice. The political sands beneath them have shifted, and anti-equality elected officials who refuse to evolve will find their days are numbered in 2014 and beyond.”
HRC endorsed Terry McAuliffe for governor earlier this year. As the campaign heated up, HRC activated thousands of members and supporters across the state, and logged countless phone calls and canvass hours for the many Virginia candidates supportive of equality.
During his tenure as Virginia’s attorney general, Cuccinelli urged public universities to roll back non-discrimination policies and conflated marriage equality and polygamy. He has called being gay “intrinsically wrong,” and argued that it brings about “nothing but self-destruction.”
Virginia voters disagree.
