Virginia

Republican Va. congressional candidate claims he can ‘cure’ LGBTQ people

Leon Benjamin is running for late-Congressman Don McEachin’s seat

Published

2 years ago

January 18, 2023

Right-wing pundit Leon Benjamin, the Republican-backed nominee for a U.S. House special election in Virginia next month, says that he runs a “ministry” devoted to getting people to “escape” from “homosexual and lesbian living.” Benjamin has falsely and dangerously claimed LGBTQ people can be “healed” by changing their identity and compared his ministering to helping adulterers, thieves, and murderers.

Benjamin is the host of the streaming program B-Alert News and a frequent guest on far-right shows. Media Matters previously reported that he has repeatedly used his media platform to push bizarre anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and false claims about elections being stolen.

Benjamin is running in the Feb. 21 special election for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District. The seat was vacated because of the death of Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin. Benjamin unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2020 and 2022.

The Republican Party of Virginia is backing Benjamin. Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin endorsed Benjamin during his 2022 run and appeared at at least one event with him.

On Jan. 15, MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart challenged Benjamin over a Facebook post he wrote comparing LGBTQ people to being “sick” and addicted to drugs. Benjamin responded by claiming he has compassion for LGBTQ people.

But in numerous media appearances, Benjamin pushes conversion therapy, the torturous and discredited practice which attempts to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ people. GLAAD has written:

“Anti-LGBTQ activists have falsely claimed for years that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is a choice and changeable — but only for LGBTQ people. They often falsely claim that LGBTQ identities are not real, but rather an expression of mental illness or an emotional disorder that can be ‘cured’ through psychological or religious intervention.

Programs that claim to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, known as “conversion therapy,” have been widely condemned. In 2013, notorious “ex-gay” ministry Exodus International closed its doors, issuing an apology for the harm done by its programs. Since then, 20 U.S. states have banned the practice (for minors only, in some instances). But it is important to note that despite condemnation and refutation from all major medical, psychiatric, and psychological organizations, these harmful and abusive practices continue.”

Benjamin has said that for over a decade he’s run a “ministry” called Escape Hall, with “Hall” standing for “homosexual and lesbian living.”

He has compared supposedly healing LGBTQ people to saving adulterers, thieves and murderers, stating: “When I’m dealing with someone in that lifestyle, it’s just like adultery. When I see a person who’s adulterous, I got to see them as somebody that God wants to save. When I see a thief or murderer like Apostle Paul was a murderer, God saw him as an apostle.”

Benjamin’s sermonizing about supposedly transforming LGBTQ people was on display during an Aug. 13, 2022, speech in New York for Clay Clark’s far-right ReAwaken America Tour. He devoted much of his time to telling LGBTQ people that they can be “healed” and “come out of homosexuality.”

“You’re going to get delivered. You’re going to get healed,” Benjamin said. “I don’t care if it’s homosexuality, fornication, adultery, lesbianism. God says he’s going to touch you today. You going get this out of your spirit. You’re going get it out of your life. And God’s going to renew your mind. And you’re going to be transformed.”

He later added: “The devil lied to you and I. He told you that you can change your sex, but he is a liar! … You got to come out of homosexuality! You got to come out of adultery! You got to come out of fornication! … I don’t care how long you’ve been a homosexual. I don’t care how long you’ve been a lesbian. The weight of the Holy Ghost is more powerful than any demon.”

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Eric Hananoki is an investigative reporter for Media Matters for America covering right-wing media and extremism.

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The preceding article was previously published by Media Matters for America and is republished by permission.

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Virginia

Va. Attorney General Jason Miyares to seek reelection

Republican challenged new Title IX rules for LGBTQ students

Published

3 weeks ago

November 19, 2024

Staff reports

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (Screen capture via Jason Miyares for Virginia/YouTube)

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares on Monday announced he will run for reelection.

Miyares, a Republican who was in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2016-2022, in 2021 defeated then-Attorney General Mark Herring.

Miyares in a 2023 letter to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said school districts must adhere to the state’s new guidelines for transgender and nonbinary students that activists say could potentially out them. Miyares also joined other state attorneys general who challenged the Biden-Harris administration’s Title IX rules that specifically protect LGBTQ students from discrimination based on their gender identity and sexual orientation.

Youngkin under the state constitution cannot run for a second consecutive term as governor.

Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who also opposes LGBTQ rights, in September announced she is running to succeed Youngkin in 2025. Earle-Sears will likely face outgoing Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger in next year’s general election.

Virginia

Va. House committee approves resolution to repeal marriage amendment

Two successive legislatures must approve proposal before it goes to voters

Published

4 weeks ago

November 13, 2024

Staff reports

(Bigstock photo)

A Virginia House of Delegates committee on Wednesday approved a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

The Privileges and Elections Committee by a 16-5 vote margin approved state Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County)’s resolution that he introduced earlier this year. State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) sponsored an identical resolution in the Virginia Senate.

Ebbin and Sickles are gay.

Voters approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006.

Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin earlier this year signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.

The General Assembly in 2021 approved a resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment. It must pass in two successive legislatures before it can go to the ballot.

“Virginia is for lovers,” said the Virginia House Democratic Caucus on X after Wednesday’s vote. “Today, we advanced a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage. It’s time our laws reflect our values of equality, inclusion, and dignity for all.”

The committee on Wednesday also approved resolutions that would enshrine reproductive rights and restore formerly incarcerated people’s right to vote in the state constitution.

Virginia

Va. teacher fired for refusing to use student’s preferred pronouns reaches $575K settlement

State Supreme Court ruled in Peter Vlaming’s favor

Published

2 months ago

October 17, 2024

Erkki Forster

(Bigstock photo)

A Virginia teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns has reached a settlement with the West Point School Board, securing $575,000 in damages and legal fees.

The school board agreed to settle Peter Vlaming’s wrongful termination lawsuit after the Virginia Supreme Court ruled last December it had violated Vlaming’s rights.

In 2018, the school board fired the former French teacher for violating school board policies that prohibit discrimination and harassment based on gender identity.

Vlaming had refused to use male pronouns when referring to a trans student in his class.

Following his dismissal, he sued the school board, claiming that the request to use the student’s preferred pronouns violated his conscience and went against his religious and philosophical convictions.

The King William County Circuit Court first dismissed Vlaming’s case, but the Virginia Supreme Court later reinstated it and ruled in Vlaming’s favor.

“I’m very grateful for the work of my attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom to bring my case to victory, and hope it helps protect every other teacher and professor’s fundamental First Amendment rights,” Vlaming said in a statement through Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative, anti-LGBTQ Christian legal organization that represents him.

The West Point School Board has since revised its policies to comply with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s overhaul of model policies for trans and nonbinary students.

The new policies, which went into effect in July 2023, mandate that schools use students’ names and pronouns based on the sex listed in their official records. Staff are prohibited from using a different name or pronoun unless parents provide written consent, and students are required to use bathrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth.