GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin’s upset victory in Tuesday’s Virginia gubernatorial election is sending shockwaves through the Democratic Party establishment and the liberal media ecosystem. The reaction in some circles has been nothing short of hysterical.
One of the biggest pieces of fearmongering throughout the campaign, and now after Youngkin’s victory, is the supposed threat the candidate poses to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Virginians. Democratic candidate Terry Mcauliffe bizarrely labeled Youngkin the “most homophobic candidate in Virginia history,” an obvious falsehood to anyone not born yesterday.
Human Rights Campaign, the left-wing, Democratic activist organization, decried the prospect of Youngkin’s election as one that “would take Virginia backwards and threaten the progress the state has made toward LGBTQ equality.” Left-wing media headlines in the aftermath of Youngkin’s victory blared: “Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican Glenn Youngkin Elected Virginia Governor.”
Cue the alarm bells! Virginia will now surely turn into a Handmaid’s Tale-esque, anti-LGBT dystopia, with gay marriage repealed, transgender people imprisoned, and iced coffee banned statewide. Right?
Well, no. Not even close. Once one discards the alarmist hyperbole and looks at the facts, there’s no reason to believe that Youngkin is “anti-LGBTQ” at all; let alone that his governorship endangers acceptance and progress.
Yes, Youngkin is personally opposed to same-sex marriage in accordance with his faith, a revelation that left-leaning media outlets were quick to pounce on. Yet the Youngkin campaign made it very clear that this is his personal view, and as a matter of law, the governor-elect does not oppose marriage equality. The campaign said in a statement:
Indeed, the largest group of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Republicans, the Log Cabin Republicans, offered a glowing endorsement of Youngkin as “an inclusive, conservative candidate who will move Virginia forward as Governor.” They don’t endorse every Republican or even most GOP candidates — let alone the “most homophobic in history.”
In fact, Youngkin’s company, the Carlyle Group, was honored in 2019 by Human Rights Campaign itself as one of the best places in America for gay and transgender people to work. (Of course, that was before the Democratic-aligned group had a partisan motive to attack him.)
“Once again, we are proud to have achieved a perfect score on the @HRC’s Corporate Equality Index. We know there is much work to be done and look forward to continuing the progress for our LGBTQ colleagues.” – Carlyle Co-CEOs, Kewsong Lee & Glenn Youngkin https://t.co/lwm53kZiKY pic.twitter.com/xatLs2WmOk
— The Carlyle Group (@OneCarlyle) March 28, 2019
Critics include only the sparsest of “evidence” to substantiate the charges that Youngkin is “anti-LGBTQ,” other than his aforementioned personal views about gay marriage. They cite his support for the segregation of school sports by biological sex, not gender identity. Yet, however one feels about the debate over transgender women, who are born biologically male, competing in women’s sports, it’s not a black-and-white issue of hate versus tolerance.
There are very real biological advantages that come with being born male that do not go away when one identifies as transgender. And, per Gallup, 62% share Youngkin’s concerns that erasing biology is unfair to women’s sports — including more than 40% of Democrats! It’s not at all an inherently bigoted or hateful view; some members of the gay and transgender communities agree with Youngkin.
Simply put, there’s no basis for the wild hyperbole about Youngkin’s supposed threat to LGBT Virginians. Given this reality, the alarmism is disgraceful. Cynical Democratic activists are using gay and transgender rights as a partisan weapon, and they have proven themselves willing to needlessly scare people to do it. It’s shameful.
Throwing around “anti-LGBT” accusations with no basis is fundamentally unfair — not just to Youngkin but to Virginia voters. Luckily, they saw through the smears.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and a Washington Examiner contributor. Subscribe to his YouTube channel or email him at [email protected].
