Robert McDonnell, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia, once wrote that ‘government must restrain, punish, and deter’ homosexuality. (Photo by Steve Helber/AP)

By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade
Sep 3 2009, 9:07 AM  |     |     |  

The release of Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert McDonnell’s 1989 graduate thesis on ways government can foster conservative family values has riled LGBT activists and prompted him to pledge that sexual orientation wouldn’t be an issue in his hiring decisions as governor.

McDonnell wrote the 93-page paper as part of his studies toward earning a law degree from Regent University, a conservative Christian school. The Washington Post published the document online this week.

In it, McDonnell argued that the government should take an active role in preserving a socially conservative view of the family and he repudiated social welfare programs. McDonnell advocated government action against LGBT people as part of this strategy.

“Man’s basic nature is inclined towards evil, and when the exercise of liberty takes the shape of pornography, drug abuse, or homosexuality, the government must restrain, punish, and deter,” he wrote.

The document concluded with a 15-point plan for how the Republican Party should work to protect families. One of the recommendations was that the GOP “fight any attempts to redefine family by allowing special rights for homosexuals or single-parent unwed mothers.”

“While no government program can make people be good, policies should reward people when they are, and not subsidize them when they are not,” he wrote. “For example, every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators. The cost of sin should fall on the sinner not the taxpayer.”

Jared Leopold, a spokesperson for Creigh Deeds, McDonnell’s Democratic opponent in the race for governor, cited the thesis as evidence that McDonnell, if elected governor, wouldn’t support all Virginians.

“Bob McDonnell’s thesis lays out a blueprint for marginalizing and discriminating against the GLBT community and many other communities in Virginia,” he said in an e-mail. “As governor, Creigh Deeds will work to bring all Virginians together and will run his administration with a commitment to fairness and equality.”

But McDonnell responded to the publication of his thesis by noting that his views have changed since he wrote it 20 years ago.

“Like everybody, my views on many issues have changed as I have gotten older,” he said in a statement. “When I left the academic world and went into public service, my record has been one of proposing innovative ideas, building consensus and getting bipartisan results to improve the lives of Virginians.”

McDonnell also said he’d pursue the same policy he followed as Virginia’s attorney general and hire employees “based on their work ethic, honesty and qualifications” without consideration of sexual orientation.

“Sexual orientation never enters into the equation,” he said. “Government should not punish or discriminate based on anyone’s sexual orientation.”

He continued: “My life experiences have taught me that — gay or straight — what really matters is someone’s talent, capabilities, commitment to family and willingness to be strong, active members of their communities.”

McDonnell has a history of anti-gay actions as a public official in Virginia. He supported the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which prohibits same-sex marriage and civil unions in Virginia, and donated $1,000 to support the campaign to pass it.

Additionally, as attorney general, he issued an opinion that found Gov. Timothy Kaine’s (D) executive order barring discrimination in the public workforce was unconstitutional. And as a state House lawmaker, he voted for anti-gay bills, including a bill that would have prevented gays from

adopting.

But McDonnell also issued an opinion as attorney general that found the Marshall-Newman Amendment would not interfere with contracts, wills, medical directives and other agreements in the state and “will not modify the application and enforcement of Virginia’s domestic violence laws.”

David Lampo, vice president of the Virginia Log Cabin Republicans, said the gay-specific items in McDonnell’s thesis “represent the antithesis of the generally libertarian principles upon which this country was founded.”

However, Lampo noted that he doesn’t believe McDonnell still holds those views.

“The belief in the theocracy that these statements represent are a repudiation of the traditional principles of limited government and individual rights the Republican Party has usually espoused, and I think Mr. McDonnell himself no longer believes many of these,” Lampo said.

Lampo said he was “heartened” by McDonnell’s statement that government shouldn’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and noted this pledge “represents a genuine evolution of his views over the 20 years since this dissertation was written.”

But Charley Conrad, president of the Virginia Partisans, an LGBT Democratic group, criticized McDonnell for writing the thesis and said it reveals “the true content of his thinking and of his character.”

“Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it’s hard to put it back in,” Conrad said. “He may try to say that he doesn’t feel like that way now, but I just find that hard to believe. I mean, he comes from that Regent University mindset where that’s how they think.”

Del. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), the only openly gay member of the Virginia General Assembly, also said the publication of the thesis dispels any notion that McDonnell is a moderate candidate.

“I think that it takes off the mask that he’s been wearing as a candidate and it’s an exposé of his core beliefs,” he said. “There’s been no evidence of change from what he wrote years ago to what he believes in and has legislated in recent years.”

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