Warner Wins Support of LGBT Groups

by Chris Johnson

Former Gov. Mark Warner is winning the support of gay Virginians in his bid for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, despite the perception among some that he is reluctant to publicly address gay issues.

Warner, 53, a Democrat, is presenting himself as a centrist and has so far largely avoided gay issues as he courts voters in Virginia. He’s also touting his bipartisan efforts as governor from 2002 to 2006, work that helped create a state budget surplus by the time he left office.

Tom Osborne, treasurer for Virginia Partisans, a statewide gay Democratic group, said Warner’s record as a moderate governor is “why he has such high approval ratings in the state.”

Warner emphasized his bipartisan record during a short speech at a barbecue Aug. 22 in Falls Church, Va., hosted by Virginia Partisans. While offering limited remarks on gay issues to the mostly gay audience, Warner said he would “focus on the results and progress that hopefully we brought in Virginia” during his tenure as governor, and would work to build a coalition in the Senate that he would call “the bipartisan radical centrists.”

A former businessman who is married and has three daughters, Warner tried unsuccessfully in 1996 to unseat U.S. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.).

Mark Warner’s emphasis on bipartisanship also was heard during the keynote address he gave Aug. 26 at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. He spoke there about the need to train workers to compete in a global economy.

“I know we’re at the Democratic convention, but if an idea works, it really doesn’t matter if it has an ‘R’ or ‘D’ next to it,” Warner said. “Because this election isn’t about the liberal versus conservative. It’s not about left versus right. It’s about the future versus the past.”

The Democratic candidate’s bipartisan image has given him a strong lead in the polls over his Republican opponent, former Gov. Jim Gilmore.

A poll published this month by SurveyUSA found that 57 percent of voters who responded preferred Warner to Gilmore, who took 34 percent.

David Lampo, vice president of the Virginia Log Cabin Republicans, noted that Warner is appealing to Virginians who are not Democrats.

He said Warner “seems like a centrist and a moderate, appealing guy and Gov. Gilmore, correctly or not, is perceived as kind of a captive of the more right-wing forces in the Republican Party.”

One casualty of Warner’s bipartisan focus could be gay rights issues. He has rarely addressed such issues during the campaign and provided nuanced answers when he discusses topics such as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

When Congress held a hearing in July on the law that precludes gays from serving openly in the armed forces, the ABC affiliate in Roanoke, Va., asked Warner for his position. Warner said he would be interested in a review of the policy, but that he supports the law.

“You do have this question of the military not being able to meet its recruitment efforts,” he told WSET-TV, “and I think there is an active debate going on within the military right now reexamining it, but I’m going to take my lead from our military leadership.”

When questioned about hate crimes and employment non-discrimination legislation, Warner campaign spokesperson Kevin Hall, who is gay, told the Blade in January that Warner “would need to see specific language before offering an opinion” on the bills.

And when the Blade asked Warner whether he favors a repeal or modification of the Defense of Marriage Act, the candidate said he did not expect such discussion to come before the Senate during the next congressional session.

“As Governor, Mark Warner demonstrated an ability to bring people together to find common ground and commonsense solutions. Gov. Warner was inclusive in his decisions on hiring and appointments, took executive action to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation across state government, and worked with leaders of the GLBT community to fight legislation that sought to limit the civil rights of members of Virginia's GLBT community,” said Kevin Hall, communications director for Friends of Mark Warner.

Gilmore’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Pledging support

Despite Warner’s reluctance to talk about these issues, numerous gay Virginia residents have pledged their support to the candidate.

About 60 people attending the Virginia Partisans barbecue last month showed their support by cheering Warner during his speech and urging him to pursue the White House.

Warner focused on non-gay issues during his speech, but he briefly acknowledged gay Virginians.
“I thank the GLBT community for their active support, and more importantly for their engagement in Virginia,” he said.

Osborne said it could be problematic for Warner to bring gay issues to the forefront.

“Sometimes the best way to achieve those things is not making a big partisan issue out of it,” he said. “There’s no reason in the course of a political campaign to stir up an issue that will help your opponent.”

Osborne, who is gay, said a candidate running for statewide office in Virginia would have difficulty winning while campaigning on gay issues.

“It’s certainly the case in Virginia that any politician who would agree with me 100 percent on the issues and go out and campaign on them could not be elected to statewide office,” Osborne said. “If they could, I’d be running.”

Alexandra Beninda of Arlington, Va., who is transgender and a Virginia Partisans member, said, “one has to be very careful just not to bring up hot-button items” that could cause conservative groups such as the Virginia Family Foundation “to all of the sudden start mobilizing their people.”

Lampo said Warner is “following a very smart political strategy” by not drawing attention to gay issues in his campaign.

“By not speaking out on those issues, or at least not doing it very often, he’s certainly positioning himself well for a state like Virginia,” he said.

Clyde Wilcox, a government professor at Georgetown University, said “it would hurt Warner’s campaign a bit” to make gay issues more visible in his campaign.

He noted that Virginia was home to conservative groups such as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, and the state has “a pretty strong continuing affiliate of Focus on the Family.”

Wilcox, who is straight, said Warner could probably still win the election while being more assertive on gay issues, but bringing them to the forefront could affect the presidential campaign by damaging Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s chances in Virginia.

No Democratic presidential candidate has won Virginia since 1964, but recent polls indicate that Obama has a chance in getting the state to flip blue this year.

In a poll published this month, SurveyUSA Obama leads Repub-lican presidential candidate John McCain, 50-46.

If Warner talked more about gay issues, it could turn off some Virginia voters who may have otherwise voted Democratic, causing Obama to lose the state, Wilcox said.

‘Play it safe’

Osborne said Virginia residents would still be able to hold Warner accountable on gay issues after he has been elected to the Senate.

“What we should care about a whole lot more than the campaign is the governing — that’s when you hold their feet to the fire,” he said.

Beninda said Warner “wants to play it safe to get into office,” but once he’s there, she expects him to be “entirely supportive of LGBT issues.”

Toni-Michelle Travis, a government professor at George Mason University who is straight, said “pressure could be brought to bear” to get Warner to address gay issues favorably once he is in the Senate because he would be in debt to the gay voters who put him in office.

Warner’s gay followers have noted his work as governor as evidence of his support for gay Virginians. Osborne said Warner’s reluctance to talk about gay issues would be problematic if the candidate had no record on them, but said Warner’s work as governor shows “he’s solidly with us.”

In 2005, Warner issued an executive order banning discrimination against Virginia public employees based on sexual orientation. In the previous year, when the Virginia General Assembly put forward the Marriage Affirmation Act to prohibit the state from recognizing civil unions sanctioned by other states, Warner sought to amend the legislation by stripping language that would threaten private contractual rights for gay couples. Lawmakers rejected the amendments, though, and passed the bill as originally written.

In 2006, Warner opposed the Marshall-Newman Amendment. The initiative, which passed with 57 percent of the vote, made Virginia’s prohibition on same-sex marriage and civil unions part of the state constitution. But he has also said he opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Wilcox said Warner is “progressive” on gay issues compared to other recent Virginia governors. He noted that Warner took some heat for the executive order banning discrimination, but remained committed to it.

Osborne said Warner also would be expected to act more favorably on gay issues than his GOP opponent, who “has a very different record on all of those things.”

Gilmore did nothing to advance gay issues when he was governor from 1998 to 2002, and campaigned in favor of the Marshall-Newman Amendment, Osborne said.

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