Jul 03, 2009  |  By: Chris Johnson  | COMMENTS     

Virginia’s LGBT Democrats are beginning to warm to their party’s gubernatorial nominee after largely having supported another candidate during the primary.

In the primary last month, State Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath County), trounced his opponents and received the Democratic gubernatorial nomination by taking nearly 50 percent of the vote.

Charley Conrad, president of the Virginia Partisans, an LGBT Democratic group, said while the Democratic primary didn’t produce “the outcome that we wanted,” his group would “certainly” support Deeds in the election.

“I mean, the biggest things is … he’s opposed to discrimination in any form and I hold him to his word,” Conrad said.

Jared Leopold, press secretary for Deeds, said in a statement the candidate will be “actively reaching out to leaders of the LGBT community and asking for the support of all communities across Virginia.”

“As governor, Creigh Deeds will work to bring all Virginians together and will run his administration with a commitment to fairness and equality,” he said.

Many LGBT Democrats are cozying up to Deeds, who was unavailable for comment for this article, after having supported in the primary Brian Moran, a former State House member.

During his 12-year term in the General Assembly, Moran never voted contrary to how Equality Virginia asked and forcefully campaigned against the Marshall-Newman Amendment, a state constitutional measure that bans same-sex marriage and civil unions.

By comparison, Deeds voted in favor of the Marshall-Newman Amendment both times it came before the General Assembly in 2005 and 2006. But he told the Blade in an earlier interview he voted against the measure at the ballot box.

Deeds has supported many pro-LGBT initiatives. He co-sponsored legislation that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public employment. And in 2007, he supported legislation that now allows gay Virginia residents to designate their partners as next of kin for hospital visitation purposes.

As governor, Deeds has pledged to renew Kaine’s executive order barring job discrimination based on sexual orientation in the state workforce. He said he’d support legislation prohibiting such discrimination in the state and private workforce, as well as legislation relaxing a rule that prohibits localities from passing ordinances barring discrimination.

Lawrence Webb, a gay Falls Church City Council member who endorsed Moran in the primary, said he’s “pretty excited” about Deeds’ candidacy despite his earlier endorsement.

“I really like Creigh — the policies that he’s put forward,” Webb said. “I think he’s willing to listen to our community, and I think with the right folks around him — giving him at least in general what we would like to see him do — he would be receptive to that.”

Tom Osborne, treasurer for the Partisans, said Deeds has been reaching out to gay Virginia residents for several years.

“He has been for the last five or six years trying to reach out to the LGBT community to find out what our concerns are, what the issues are,” Osborne said. “With only a couple of exceptions, he’s been with us on the issues.”

While the Partisans endorsed Moran in the primary, Conrad said he doesn’t “think there’s any doubt” about whether his group would endorse Deeds in the general election. He added he wasn’t sure when his group would make an official endorsement announcement.

“And the thing is, the alternative is totally unacceptable, and Creigh Deeds is somebody we can work with and we want to work with him,” Conrad said.

Deeds is running against Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell, a former Virginia attorney general and former State House lawmaker. McDonnell supported the Marshall-Newman Amendment and donated $1,000 to support the campaign in favor of the measure.

Additionally, as attorney general, he issued an opinion stating Kaine’s executive order on discrimination was unconstitutional. And as a State House lawmaker, he voted in favor of anti-gay bills, such a legislation that would have prevented gay people from adopting.