2025 Virginia Governor’s Debate: Earle-Sears vs. Spanberger – WFXR screenshots
In a heated October 9 debate in Virginia’s governor’s race, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears defended her belief that treating LGBTQ people differently from heterosexual or cisgender individuals does not amount to discrimination.
Earle-Sears, who trails in most public polls, used the debate as a last-ditch attempt to paint former Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger as extreme, out of touch, or untrustworthy. She pressed Spanberger on issues like transgender participation in sports and restroom access. She attacked her for not calling on Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones to withdraw after his comments appeared to endorse political violence.
In one of the few moments when Spanberger — who was often interrupted or talked over by Earle-Sears — went on the offensive, the Democratic nominee accused her opponent of having a record of condoning discrimination against LGBTQ people.
“My opponent was asked about her record of discrimination. And importantly, my opponent has previously said that she does not think that gay couples should be allowed to marry,” Spanberger said.
This prompted Earle-Sears to loudly interject, “That’s not discrimination!”
Spanberger, betting that most Virginians oppose unequal treatment of LGBTQ people, continued, “My opponent has also previously said that she thinks it’s okay for someone to be fired from their job for being gay.”
“That’s not discrimination!” Earle-Sears repeated.
Earle-Sears’ response is hardly surprising, given her long record of opposing LGBTQ rights. In a 2004 candidate questionnaire, she described homosexuality as an “immoral lifestyle choice.” She also pledged to back legislation barring same-sex couples from adopting children and to oppose any bill providing workplace protections for gay people.
Last May, the Republican lieutenant governor took the unusual step of adding a handwritten note of personal disdain to a bill prohibiting officials from denying marriage licenses based on sex, gender, or race — legislation she was constitutionally required to sign as presiding officer of the Virginia Senate.
“I remain morally opposed to the content of HB 174 as passed by the General Assembly,” she wrote directly on the legislation.
Regardless of Earle-Sears’ personal views on same-sex marriage, the U.S. Supreme Court explicitly rejected her stance on workplace protections. In its landmark June 2020 decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, the Court ruled that employers cannot fire someone solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Doing so, the justices found, constitutes sex-based discrimination.
Interpreting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Court concluded that the term “sex” in the law’s ban on discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” includes both sexual orientation and gender identity.
“An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids,” wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch in the 6-3 majority opinion.
Earle-Sears’ beliefs also stand in stark contrast to the sexuality of her running mate, lieutenant governor candidate John Reid. A gay man, Reid has reportedly experienced private tension with Earle-Sears as the two campaign for the state’s top offices.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin even publicly urged Reid to drop out of the race after allegations surfaced that he had reposted nude photos of men on a Tumblr account using the same name as his Instagram handle.
“It is his race, and his decision alone to move forward. We all have our own race to run,” Earle-Sears said after her running mate refused to suspend his campaign.
Despite their differences, Reid has publicly defended Earle-Sears’s opposition to same-sex marriage, saying on SiriusXM’s The Wilkow Majority that the two are “willing to put aside our differences” for the good of Virginia.
While Reid personally supports marriage equality, he told the Virginia Mercury that if elected and called on to break a tie in the Senate, he would vote against a referendum to legalize same-sex marriage, arguing it fails to protect those “who sincerely don’t agree with gay marriage.”
Virginia’s general elections will be held on November 4, 2025. Early voting is already underway across the commonwealth.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his first vetoes since the state legislature's 2025 session ended last month, rejecting 21 bills — including one that proposed pro-transgender updates to the state's health education standards, which Republicans had urged him to block.
Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 86, a technical measure that would have updated language in the state's K-8 health education standards to align with the curriculum framework adopted by the state Board of Education in 2019.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-Santee) sent Newsom a letter criticizing the bill for "introduc the theory that reproductive anatomy does not necessarily determine a person's gender."
A politician from Poland’s far-right Konfederacja (Confederation) party has quit after revealing his relationship with model Michalina Manios, an intersex woman.
In a joint interview with the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, Dawid Szóstak and Manios confirmed they were dating and said they want to "focus on what's important," according to Euronews.
The couple stressed their shared values, noting that both are Catholic and deeply respectful of tradition.
Elon Musk has waded into the Virginia governor's race to attack Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger, accusing her of "trying to weasel out" of a question about transgender students accessing bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. Musk shared a post on X highlighting Spanberger's response to WJLA reporter Nick Minock, who asked whether she supports "biological males who say they're women using women's locker rooms and bathrooms and competing in women's sports."
Spanberger stumbled in her response, noting that any attempt by a future Virginia governor or the Trump administration to impose a bathroom ban could run afoul of a 2020 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision allowing transgender students in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina to use bathrooms matching their gender identity.
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