Nov 06, 2009  |  By: Chris Johnson and Amy Cavanaugh | COMMENTS     

Election Day results brought heartbreaking news to many gay rights supporters in Virginia as Republicans surged to victory in several key races.

Charley Conrad, president of the Virginia Partisans, an LGBT Democratic group, said the GOP victories would mean “four very tough years for our community.”

“It’s going to mean we’re going to have to continue to fight for our rights, to have our voices heard, because in their administration, we will not have a seat at the table,” he said.

Sarah Gustafson, president of Equality Fairfax, said she was “disappointed” in the results particularly because Republicans claimed the seats held by pro-LGBT officials.

“Many who were elected on the statewide level in the past have not been supporters of gays and lesbians,” she said. “I think it’s going to be much tougher to get our issues forward.”

On Tuesday, Republican candidate Bob McDonnell trounced his Democratic rival, Creigh Deeds, by winning nearly 60 percent of the vote.

McDonnell has often taken anti-gay actions as a public official in Virginia. He supported the Marshall-Newman Amendment, a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and marriage-like unions, and as a lawmaker voted in favor of anti-gay bills, including one that would have barred adoption by gay Virginia residents.

He recently pledged not to renew as governor an executive order for non-discrimination against gays in the public workforce — although he’s said he wouldn’t allow discrimination based on sexual orientation for state workers.

Other GOP candidates won at the statewide level by significant margins. Bill Bolling, the Republican incumbent lieutenant governor, won about 56 percent of the vote, and Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican candidate for attorney general, won 57 percent.

Cuccinelli, who has an anti-gay record as a state senator, recently invoked the ire of LGBT Virginians by saying in an interview that “homosexual acts” are “intrinsically wrong” and “not healthy to society.”

David Lampo, vice president of the Virginia Log Cabin Republicans, said he was “pleased” with McDonnell’s victory and analyses that he won “because he chartered this moderate course on social issues” during the campaign.

“I think if they want to retain power and keep this Republican resurgence going, then they need to follow-up on that,” Lampo said. “They need to keep that moderate course.”

Lampo said Virginia Log Cabin would press McDonnell for a post-election meeting to work out how he could accomplish non-discrimination in the public workforce without a directive, and see if he’d commit to supporting legislation that would accomplish that goal.

Although he was happy with many Republican wins, Lampo called the election of Cuccinelli as attorney general a “disaster.”

“You rarely see any concern about him stated in Republicans ranks, but there’s a lot there,” Lampo said. “I think they’re going to be watching him very closely to see if he blemishes this new image of the party in Virginia as a bit more moderate and inclusive on social issues.”

One victory that LGBT Virginians thought they might achieve this year was the ouster of Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William County) from the House of Delegates by Democrat John Bell. Marshall was the chief sponsor of the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which made a ban on same-sex marriage and marriage-like unions part of the Virginia Constitution.

But Bell fell far short of victory. Marshall retained his seat after collecting 61 percent of the vote in his district.

At his election night party, Bell said he conceded the race and told Marshall the Bell campaign “from the very beginning has been about focusing on everyday issues.”

A number of other local LGBT-related races in Virginia also were resolved on Tuesday:

• in Arlington, Jay Fisette, vice-chair of the Arlington County Board and the longest-serving openly gay elected official in Virginia, won re-election in the face of a challenge from independent candidate John Reeder;

• in Fairfax County, Danny Smith, a gay Republican, lost his bid for a seat on the House of Delegates to Democrat Kaye Kory, a pro-LGBT candidate;

• and in Alexandria, Del. Adam Ebbin, the only openly gay member of the Virginia General Assembly, won re-election after running unopposed.

Maryland also was a mixed bag for gay candidates seeking public office:

• Patrick Wojahn, who is gay, retained his College Park City Council seat;

• Trapper Martin, a gay candidate for Annapolis City Council, lost his bid, taking less than 7 percent of the vote;

• and Scott Bowling, who’s gay, lost his bid for an Annapolis City Council seat to incumbent Classie Hoyle.

In the days before the election, racist and homophobic fliers attacking Bowling were distributed in public housing developments in his ward. The flier says that Bowling would “be a danger to us all and our children,” and that Bowling, who is “white and gay” would push “a pro gay agenda at City Hall.”

Bowling said he plans to file a complaint with the state Attorney General’s office.