“I regret using any words that hurt people or that make people think I hate them, or that make people think I look down on them.”
—E.W. Jackson, a Republican candidate for Virginia’s U.S. Senate seat, in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch in which Jackson attempted to dispel what he feels are misconceptions about his conservative beliefs.
Jackson previously ran for lieutenant governor in 2013, losing to Ralph Northam in the general election. During that campaign, Jackson came under intense criticism for controversial statements he made about LGBTQ rights, abortion, and a host of other social issues. Some of those statements included calling gay people “very sick” and “perverted.”
Attempting to set the record straight, Jackson told the Times-Dispatch that he regrets the tone of his past comments.
He still opposes same-sex marriage and measures that promote LGBTQ equality, such as nondiscrimination laws, but says he hopes to communicate his conservative values in a less offensive manner.
“I am going to endeavor in this campaign to express that in a way that calls attention to my faith, where appropriate, without implying some sort of hostility against gay people or transgender people,” Jackson said. “Because I don’t believe that. And that’s one of the many lessons I’ve learned.”
Jackson, the pastor of The Called — Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va., also attempted to put his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric into context.
He noted that the comments for which he came under fire were “said not in the context of a campaign but on Christian radio where I’m speaking as a pastor and minister to Christians.”
He also claims that if he were to see someone bullying a gay or transgender person, he would step in “and physically fight for them.”
Jackson is one of four GOP candidates currently running for the seat held held by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.
Also seeking the party’s nomination is Corey Stewart, a former Prince William County supervisor who almost toppled Ed Gillespie in this year’s Republican primary after running a Trump-style campaign seizing on preserving Confederate monuments as a way of opposing “political correctness.”
On Saturday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough announce that the VA will be pushing for a rule change to allow transgender veterans to access gender-affirming health care, including gender confirmation surgery, that is deemed medically necessary.
Speaking at a Pride Month event for transgender veterans at the Orlando VA Healthcare System in Florida, McDonough promised to overcome the "dark history" of discrimination against the transgender community and take steps to ensure they can access the care they need.
McDonough's announcement marks a reversal from the Trump administration, which adopted a ban that resulted in the majority of transgender people being declared ineligible to serve in the military, a policy that was reversed by President Joe Biden soon after taking office earlier this year.
Eduardo Leite, the governor of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, and a potentially high-profile challenger to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, has come out as gay.
Leite, 36, from the center-right Brazilian Social Democratic Party, made the announcement during an interview with Brazil's top broadcaster, TV Globo, last Thursday.
"I'm gay -- and I'm a governor who is gay rather than a gay governor," Leite said in the interview. "Just as Obama in the United States wasn't a Black president, but a president who was Black. And I'm proud of this."
Leite's announcement is a significant development in a country that has become infamous internationally for its homophobia and violence directed against members of the LGBTQ community.
Thousands protested outside Hungary's national parliament in Budapest on Monday, decrying legislation that bans discussions or depictions of homosexuality or gender transition in schools and in the media.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a right-wing populist, has ramped up political attacks targeting the LGBTQ community -- as well as immigrants and other ethnic groups -- ahead of the 2022 elections next year, in hope that an appeal on culturally divisive issues will help his Fidesz party stay in power.
Fidesz has claimed that LGBTQ activists and others are attempting to corrupt minors, employing homophobic tropes about gay men, in particular, as predators whose influence can potentially harm the "physical, mental, and moral development."
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“I regret using any words that hurt people or that make people think I hate them, or that make people think I look down on them.”
—E.W. Jackson, a Republican candidate for Virginia’s U.S. Senate seat, in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch in which Jackson attempted to dispel what he feels are misconceptions about his conservative beliefs.
Jackson previously ran for lieutenant governor in 2013, losing to Ralph Northam in the general election. During that campaign, Jackson came under intense criticism for controversial statements he made about LGBTQ rights, abortion, and a host of other social issues. Some of those statements included calling gay people “very sick” and “perverted.”
Attempting to set the record straight, Jackson told the Times-Dispatch that he regrets the tone of his past comments.
He still opposes same-sex marriage and measures that promote LGBTQ equality, such as nondiscrimination laws, but says he hopes to communicate his conservative values in a less offensive manner.
“I am going to endeavor in this campaign to express that in a way that calls attention to my faith, where appropriate, without implying some sort of hostility against gay people or transgender people,” Jackson said. “Because I don’t believe that. And that’s one of the many lessons I’ve learned.”
Jackson, the pastor of The Called — Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va., also attempted to put his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric into context.
He noted that the comments for which he came under fire were “said not in the context of a campaign but on Christian radio where I’m speaking as a pastor and minister to Christians.”
He also claims that if he were to see someone bullying a gay or transgender person, he would step in “and physically fight for them.”
Jackson is one of four GOP candidates currently running for the seat held held by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.
Also seeking the party’s nomination is Corey Stewart, a former Prince William County supervisor who almost toppled Ed Gillespie in this year’s Republican primary after running a Trump-style campaign seizing on preserving Confederate monuments as a way of opposing “political correctness.”
The other Republicans seeking the seat are Ivan Raiklin, a veteran and D.C. tech investor, and Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper), who introduced a bill that would have allowed individuals and businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people without any consequences, so long as they claimed the discrimination was based on their sincerely held religious beliefs.
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