GOP Nominates Anti-Gay Pastor E.W. Jackson for Lieutenant Governor in Virginia

Anti-gay Pastor E.W. Jackson joined Ken Cuccinelli and Attorney General nominee Mark Obenshain on the Virginia Republican ticket over the weekend.

Jackson told the Washington Post that he has never been hateful about homosexuality:

“I think people always try to put that in the context of being hateful and it’s not,” he said. “It’s a particular worldview that every Christian for the most part who goes to church across this commonwealth shares: that marriage should be between one man and one woman. And anything else is an attempt to redefine an institution that really can’t be redefined. But I also like to let gay folks know that that same religious faith requires that you care about everybody, regardless. . . . It’s about religious principles, but never, ever about hatred or bigotry.”

Jackson has linked homosexuality and pedophilia: "I know their people say, well, it’s unfair to associate homosexuality with pedophilia or some of these other previsions. But I believe that there is a direction connection because what they really want is absolute sexual freedom."

Jackson has said gays are psychologically sick: "Their minds are perverted, they’re frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally and they see everything through the lens of homosexuality. When they talk about love they’re not talking about love, they’re talking about homosexual sex. So they can’t see clearly."

He commented on the Democrats' embrace of marriage equality this way:

Later this month when Democrats make same-sex marriage part of their official Party Platform, the former practicing attorney says they will be spitting in the face of every Bible-believing Christian in America: “They will be saying, 'We don't care what you think, what you believe, or what the Bible or the God of the Bible says. We know better than God.'”

And he has said pro-gay rights liberals “have done more to kill black folks whom they claim so much to love than the Ku Klux Klan, lynching and slavery and Jim Crow ever did.”

Jon Stewart Inspects Homophobe Ken Cuccinelli's (Failed) Attempt to Retain Virginia's Sodomy Law: VIDEO

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli asked the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a lower court's decision which overturned the state's sodomy law.

He lost, the Washington Blade reports:

In an action that surprised some court observers, the order says none of the court’s judges requested a poll among themselves to determine which, if any of them, favored Cuccinelli’s request for an en banc rehearing of the sodomy case by the court’s 15 active judges and one senior judge.

Among the judges that chose not to approve a rehearing was Judge Albert Diaz, who wrote the dissent in the three-judge panel’s 2-1 ruling declaring Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” statute unconstitutional. The statute classifies sodomy between consenting adults, gay or straight, as a crime.

“It’s a pretty resounding rejection,” said Claire Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, which filed a friend of the court brief urging the three-judge panel to overturn the state sodomy law. “There really wasn’t any interest in doing this at all by anybody.”

Cuccinelli could petition the Supreme Court but hasn't indicated if he will do so. In any case, the whole brouhaha gave Jon Stewart to give Cuccinelli a sound drubbing on Tuesday night.

Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Terry McAuliffe Reiterates Marriage Equality Support at Equality Dinner

Virginia gubernatorial candidate and former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe told attendees at an Equality Virginia dinner on Saturday that he supports marriage equality but would not prioritize repealing the 2006 consittutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in the state and instead focus on the economy, the Times Dispatch reports:

“We just went through this process here seven years ago; it’s in the constitution,” McAuliffe said in an interview at the 10th annual Commonwealth Dinner hosted by Equality Virginia, one of the state’s advocacy groups for gay rights, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.

However, McAuliffe said he would not tolerate any form of discrimination in the commonwealth. “We’ve got to make sure that Virginia is open and welcoming to everybody,” McAuliffe said.

McAuliffe said he made the decision to back same-sex marriage in February after discussing the issue with his wife. “A lot of the debate around ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ really enlightened me,” he said.

The Washington Blade adds:

He also sought to differentiate himself from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli who last week asked the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond to review a three-judge panel’s decision in March that struck down Virginia’s sodomy law.

News: Gun Rally, Norovirus, Balkanization, 16-bit

The New York Times' Charles M. Blow on the GOP's plans to discard the winner-take-all system that has been favoring Democrats: "One day I will have to visit the evil lair where they come up with these schemes.They pump them out like a factory. Voter suppression didn’t work in November, and it may even have backfired in some states, so they just devised another devilish plan."

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, an anti-gay Republican, also opposes the measure: "I think winner-take-all is part of how a state matters. Our side would have gotten more votes this go-around but you know I want people to want to fight to win the whole state. It makes the state as a state matter more... We need to build them up and not to Balkanize America. It's the states that created the federal government and not the other way around."

And neither does Haley Barbour, the former governor of Mississippi.

Good news: "Emmanuel Lutheran Church will vote Sunday to openly confirm its acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parishioners… The vote would confirm Emmanuel as a Reconciling in Christ congregation and make it the first Rockford church listed with Reconciling Works, which advocates for the full inclusion of LGBT Lutherans in all aspects of church life. Reconciling Works lists 5,893 open Lutheran congregations across the United States."

Never fear, Beyoncé is on site rehearsing for her Super Bowl performance.

Headline of the day: "There's Absolutely No Logical Argument Against Gay Marriage".

Runner-up: "Adam Lambert Got A Birthday Lap Dance From David Arquette Last Night".

No amount of crunches can save your tummy from the norovirus: "It's here. A variant of norovirus first spotted in Australia is now sweeping the U.S. The wily virus causes stomach upset, vomiting and diarrhea. The sickness is sometimes referred to as the stomach flu, though influenza has nothing to do with it."

Which "straight" actors have taken to snogging one another?

New satellite technology lets us finally see what clouds are up to at night.

Thousands turn out for pro-gun control rally in D.C.

On her 55th birthday, 55 reasons to love Ellen DeGeneres.

Troy Stevenson, the new executive director for Garden State Equality, vows to keep fighting for marriage equality there.

  Bryan Singer confirmed that Ellen Page and Anna Paquin have signed on to the next X-movie, "Days of Future Past," based on the classic X-Men story arc of the same name.

Downton Abbey as a 16-bit Super Nintendo video game.

Here's part of what President Obama said a video pre-recorded for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force annual conference: "Today you are helping lead the way to a future where everyone is treated with dignity and respect... The work will be hard, the road will be long, but I'm more confident than ever that we will reach a better future as long as Americans like you keep reaching for justice and all of us keep marching together."

Anti-Gay Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli Announces Gubernatorial Bid

Ken Cuccinelli, the Virginia Attorney General who says gay people aren't protected by the 14th Amendment and cut his state's ties with King & Spalding for the law firm's stance on DOMA, announced today that he plans on running to be the Commonwealth's governor.

"I am running for Governor to continue the work I have undertaken during my tenure as Attorney General and as a State Senator," he said, according to CNN.

"I will continue my work to strengthen our economy, preserve our liberty, and to promote the principles of smaller, more efficient state government, accountable to the people it serves. I look forward to sharing my vision for the Commonwealth following the November elections."

Please don't.

Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli Cuts State's Ties with 'King & Spalding' for 'Obsequious Act of Weakness' in DOMA Case

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is not happy that King & Spalding chose against LGBT discrimination.

The Washington Examiner reports:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has terminated his office's relationship with King & Spalding, the Atlanta law firm that abrubtly dropped the U.S. House of Representatives as a client for purposes of defending the Defense of Marriage Act.

"King & Spalding's willingness to drop a client, the U.S. House of Representatives, in connection with the lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was such an obsequious act of weakness that I feel compelled to end your legal association with Virginia so that there is no chance that one of my legal clients will be put in the embarrassing and difficult situation like the client you walked away from, the House of Representatives," Cuccinelli said in a letter to Joseph Lynch in the firm's Washington, D.C. office.

You may recall that Cuccinelli came under fire last year for advising public universities that they should rescind their bylaws protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination and later saying that homosexual acts are a detriment to our culture.

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