Local
Cuccinelli reaffirms opposition to homosexuality
Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate debated challenger Terry McAuliffe on Saturday
Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli hoped to challenge a ruling that overturned the state’s sodomy law. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
“My personal beliefs about the personal challenge of homosexuality haven’t changed,” the Republican gubernatorial candidate said in response to a question from the PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff during a debate she moderated between him and former Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe that took place at the Homestead in Hot Springs, Va. “What I want to do as governor is create an environment — including an economic environment — where every Virginian has opportunity.”
Cuccinelli’s comments come less than a month after he petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling earlier this year that struck down the commonwealth’s anti-sodomy statute.
His campaign last week launched a website that urges the justices to defend what it describes as the commonwealth’s “anti-child predators law.”
The debate, which the Virginia Bar Association sponsored, also took place two days after a gay Norfolk couple filed a lawsuit in federal court that challenges Virginia’s constitutional same-sex marriage ban that voters approved in 2006.
A Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday noted 50 percent of Virginians support nuptials for gays and lesbians. A survey that Public Policy Polling unveiled on July 11 found 55 percent of commonwealth residents back same-sex marriage.
McAuliffe, who publicly backed marriage rights for gays and lesbians in February, said during the debate that the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ prompted him and his wife Dorothy to evolve on the issue. He also said he would sign a same-sex marriage bill into law if one were to reach his desk, although he conceded it would likely not happen.
“We all know the practical realities,” McAuliffe said, noting there are only 32 Democrats in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates. “[A same-sex marriage ban is] now in our constitution.”
McAuliffe also said he would sign an “early” executive order that would ban anti-gay discrimination against state employees as former Govs. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine did. He criticized Cuccinelli’s 2010 recommendation to Virginia colleges and universities that they remove LGBT-specific provisions from their non-discrimination policies.
“My opponent has continually attacked gay Virginians,” McAuliffe said, noting the defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. threatened to scrap plans to relocate 300 employees to its Virginia headquarters after Cuccinelli issued his directive. “There are consequences to mean-spirited hateful comments.”
Cuccinelli described McAuliffe’s assertion as “laughable if it weren’t so offensive.”
“The only candidate in this race who has chased business out of Virginia is you,” he said, questioning his decision to open a factory for his troubled electric car company in Mississippi — and not the commonwealth. “It’s Terry, not me.”
Gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) criticized Cuccinelli’s statements.
“Ken Cuccinelli’s unapologetic and bizarre views on gay people perpetuate the worst stereotypes and make Virginia look like a hostile backwater,” Ebbin told the Washington Blade after the debate. “Labeling gay people ‘harmful to society’ and calling homosexuality a ‘personal challenge’ puts him out of the mainstream of Virginia thinking.”
“The attorney general’s position is counterproductive to building a stronger and more inclusive commonwealth, and the role of Virginia’s governor has the opportunity to bridge differences,” Equality Virginia Advocates added in a statement. “We are deeply disturbed that Attorney General Cuccinelli will continue to use his power in office as a bully pulpit instead of lifting up all Virginians.”
The Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday found McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli among likely Virginia voters by a 43-39 percent margin.
MSNBC’s Chuck Todd will moderate the next scheduled debate between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli that is slated to take place in McLean on September 25.
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate next week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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