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Friday, October 12, 2007
CHANTILLY, Va. — Those who showed up Tuesday at a bipartisan forum for Virginia state candidates to discuss gay issues expressed mostly gay-friendly views.
“Putting the ‘Fair’ in Fairfax Discussion Forum,” was sponsored and moderated by four gay political organizations: Equality Fairfax, Equality Virginia, Virginia Partisans Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club, and the Log Cabin Republicans of Virginia. The two-hour forum for state House candidates — all straight — focused on topics such as domestic partnership benefits, second-parent adoption, the Virginia marriage amendment, employment non-discrimination and non-gay issues such as global warming and transportation. A forum for Senate candidates was held two weeks ago.
Equality Fairfax president Sarah Gustafson, one of the moderators, said Fairfax is a more progressive county that recognizes that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals need more protection.
“There have been bills in the General Assembly in the last few years to add non-discrimination to the Virginia Human Rights Code,” she said. “That still hasn’t gotten out of committee but at least the candidates in Fairfax County do care about us and are trying to make our lives better in Virginia.”
Participating candidates running for seats in the House of Delegates included Dave Hunt (R) and Margaret Vanderhye (D), 34th District, which covers McLean, Great Falls, parts of Vienna and Herndon; Rex Simmons (D), 40th District, which covers Clifton, Fairfax Station and parts of Centreville, Fairfax and Burke; Chuck Caputo (D), 67th District, made up of Chantilly, Fair Lakes, western Fairfax, parts of Centreville and the South Riding area of Loudoun County; and Tom Rust (R) and Jay Donahue (D), 86th District, which covers Herndon, Oak Hill and the Sterling Park area of Loudoun County. Tim Hugo (R), 40th District, and Marc Cadin (R), 67th District, did not attend. They were given the opportunity to present written responses to the questions posed by panel moderators, but did not respond.
Among the highlights:
- Republican Dave Hunt, a conservative Christian, said his opinion is based on the conversations he has had with the chief operating officer at his company who is gay and wants to have a family with his partner.
- Social conservatives Tim Hugo (R-40) and Marc Cadin (R-67) declined to appear at the debate and did not submit written responses to the questions, so their opponents, Rex Simmons (D-40) and Chuck Caputo (D-67) talked about their stances. Simmons and Caputo both said they support employment nondiscrimination at all levels, domestic partnership benefits, Gay-Straight Alliances and second-parent adoptions.
- Tom Rust said he favors employment nondiscrimination protections for gay state employees. Jay Donahue supported all of the gay issues brought up by the moderators, including employment nondiscrimination at all levels, domestic partnerships, second-parent adoptions and hate crimes legislation.
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