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The 5th District GOP Tears Itself Apart: An Odyssey

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Months later, Republicans of Virginia’s 5th Congressional District remain uproariously divided over Congressman Denver Riggleman’s officiation of a gay wedding.

Things are getting downright volatile in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, y’all — specifically, within that district’s Republican Party. It all started back in July, when 5th District Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman officiated a wedding between two men who’d volunteered for his 2018 Congressional campaign, Alex Pisciarino and Anthony LeCounte.

At the time, Riggleman made clear to the Washington Post that he believed in marriage equality. “My real belief is that government shouldn’t be involved in marriage at all, but if it is, everybody has to be treated equally before the law,” he said in an interview with the Post at the time.

He also went on to voice his personal support for the wedding. “It also comes down to love is love,” he told the Post. “I’m happy to join two people together who obviously love each other.”

As we previously reported, this fact shocked the members of the 5th Congressional District Republican Committee, some of whom attempted to censure him at a July meeting of the committee, on the basis that Riggleman had failed to uphold the plank of the Republican party platform that stated “marriage is between one man and one woman.”

At the time, the name Melvin Adams figured in the story, but only in a minor way. Adams, the chairman of the committee, ultimately ruled the motion to censure Riggleman out of order, and the motion failed. Adams later released a statement saying that “The fifth district Republican committee is absolutely committed to inclusiveness,” and that the Republican party “do[es] not discriminate against anyone, and all are welcome to join us to promote our party platform and support our candidates.”

That said, Adams went on to state that he still doesn’t endorse marriage equality, stating, “[We] do not accept the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage and we urge its reversal, whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states.”

All pretty standard right-wing political talking points so far, right? That should have been the end of it. But in this age of social media, no cause for outrage ever truly ends. And when Melvin Adams chose to dive into a Facebook group discussion about Riggleman’s support for marriage equality, he found himself in much hotter water.

The conversation took place on a Facebook group called “Virginia’s 5th Congressional District GOP Voters.” While the original post does not survive in a publicly-visible place, screenshots did preserve Adams’ comments. Responding to a comment by Larry Bethea that read, “Very few People, even today will admit the truth about when lured to Homosexuality while I would guess many were Children led by the hand of an older Man. Normalizing homosexuality also helps normalize pedophilia and articles within the Research Community have already written about it.” [sic]

Adams, who is apparently a group administrator based on the screenshot, responded: “Larry Bethea I absolutely agree with this statement. In my experience and working with people for years, the vast majority who are trapped or enamored by the homosexual lifestyle are for the following reasons: 1. Abused by men when they were children 2. Had Extremely dominant mothers 3. Were severely bullied by others and learned coping mechanism of quiet compliance. What is so shocking and sad to me is that this behavior is now being normalized and even experimentation is being encouraged… right in our schools. This is clearly an agenda driven issue by the left to destroy the traditional family, one of the principle pillars of society.”

Wow, right? Such a homophobic hodgepodge of unscientific, long-discredited beliefs is rare to encounter in the wild. But apparently people out there still believe this stuff, and some of them run Virginia branches of political parties.

That said, this did not sit well with the young Republicans of the 5th Congressional District, and the College Republicans at University of Virginia and Longwood University released a joint letter condemning Adams’s statement. “We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the recent comments made by 5th District Republican Committee chairman Melvin Adams equating homosexuality with pedophilia,” the letter read in part. “This statement reduces the LGBTQ+ community to non-autonomous victims, instead of the citizens they are.”

They went on to call for his resignation in strong terms. “In light of these developments, we have no confidence in Chairman Adams’ ability to lead this committee in the future, nd therefore demand his resignation,” the letter went on. “As the youth of the party, we refuse to allow the values we hold to be so wildly misrepresented.” The College Republican Federation of Virginia joined with the call, releasing a statement of its own calling for either a public apology or Adams’ resignation. “The LGBTQIA+ community is welcome in College Republicans in Virginia,” the letter stated in bold print.

Adams later stated in a private post on his Facebook page that his comments were in response to a person who had been abused as a child, and were intended in support of that person. “However, some didn’t see that and only saw what they considered an attack on the LGBT community,” he wrote, according to Virginia Public Media. “That was not my intention. To those who were offended, I’m sorry.”

This apology did not satisfy College Republican Federation of Virginia chair Courtney Britt, a University of Richmond student, who told Virginia Public Media she “expressed disappointment in the substance because it didn’t acknowledge the agreement with a comment that suggests similarities between homosexuality and pedophilia, or the way the comment victimized the LGBTQ+ community.”

On Tuesday, September 10, Adams followed up with an email to the leadership of the 5th Congressional District Republican Committee and the leaders of the Republican Party of Virginia. The email was reprinted in full on the conservative website Bearing Drift, and reads in part: “This is a coordinated effort and specifically “agenda” driven. Our District is being targeted based on recent events and because of our conservative nature. My position – I have no intention of stepping down under this pressure. That would create even more attacks against Virginia’s conservative leaders and our voters. I serve Republicans District wide and this Committee. Every voter matters and deserves respect because of the person they are, but our personal and party principles are determined at a higher level.”

Bearing Drift refers to this situation as a “circular firing squad,” and it’s hard to argue with that. It definitely seems that the 5th Congressional District’s Republican Party, and indeed the entire Republican Party of Virginia, is polarized over this issue. And while most (but not all) of us in the LGBTQ community are on the sidelines of this discussion, it is at least encouraging to see that those taking a pro-LGBTQ position are largely younger and closer to the political mainstream.

We’ve still got a long way to go before equal rights are guaranteed to the entire LGBTQ community. However, the fact that it’s not universally acceptable for political figures to take anti-LGBTQ positions even on Virginia’s political right is an encouraging sign. And maybe that’s the lesson here. For now, I find myself in a position I never expected to be in: cheering for Virginia’s College Republicans.

Top photo: Riggleman at the Pisciarino-LeCounte wedding (photo by Christine Riggleman)

VCU Students Talk Governor’s Election With RVA Mag

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Believe it or not, the Virginia gubernatorial election is just a few days away. The race between Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie has been a tumultuous one, to put it very lightly.

The President Trump-supported Gillespie campaign has run attack ads that claim Northam’s vote against a sanctuary city ban in February contributes negatively to the safety of Virginia by letting “dangerous illegal immigrants back on the street, increasing the threat of MS 13.” (Note: On Wednesday, Northam stated that he opposes sanctuary cities, in a move that perplexed most observers.) Additionally, Gillespie has made the promise of economic growth and job creation a core aspect of his campaign.

Meanwhile, the Democrats have been seeking to energize their base by inviting President Obama to a Northam rally, and most recently hosting an event in Scott’s Addition featuring Senator Kamala Harris and former Attorney General Eric Holder. The campaign has also been emphasising Gillespie’s ties to white nationalism, sending mailers that directly link the Republican candidate to President Trump and the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

That’s not even mentioning the recent advertisement released by Latino Victory Fund showing a Confederate flag-flying truck with a Gillespie campaign sticker chasing minority children. While the ad was not produced by the Northam campaign, it was still met with heavy conservative backlash against the candidate.

The gap between the candidates has been tightening into single digits in recent polling. It isn’t much of a stretch to predict that this race will be a close one, and with both candidates differing on social issues such as reproductive rights, gun control, Medicaid expansion, and LGBTQ rights, the results of this race are bound to affect the lives of the majority of Virginians, especially those in marginalized communities.

College students are an important yet commonly overlooked part of the voter base. Democrat-aligned group NextGen America, however, is going so far as to obtain the contact information of more than 30,000 Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) students and sending them text messages encouraging them to vote for Northam.

An actual text message received by the author. Image captured by Ryan Persaud.

With the tension surrounding the gubernatorial election, RVA Mag  decided to ask a variety of VCU students who they are voting for, and how they feel about the election as a whole.

Elias Hakim, a junior majoring in political science and a member of the Young Democrats at VCU, said he hopes Virginia chooses Northam over the bigotry and divisiveness he claims Gillespie represents.

“It has been very upsetting for me to see Ed Gillespie, who has marketed himself in the past as a moderate Republican, taking notes from Trump’s playbook by running a race-baiting and fear mongering campaign,” Hakim said. “I am cautiously optimistic for Ralph Northam, but I think that 2016 taught us all a very important lesson about predicting elections, and Democrats can’t afford to act complacently.”

Hakim said the national attention on this election has been exciting to him, claiming that many people see this election as a referendum in response to the election of President Trump.

“We have a choice to either follow the federal government down a path of bigotry and divisiveness, or we can continue to make progress as a Commonwealth despite what is going on at the national level,” Hakim said. “I’m hoping that Virginians choose the latter.”

A member of the College Republicans at VCU, who stated they were only allowed to speak as an organization and therefore remained unnamed, cites Gillespie’s economic plans as a major reason why they support him.

“Virginia is currently 39th out of 50 states economic growth,” the member said. “Knowing this, Gillespie is cutting back regulations and taxes that have stunted Virginia’s growth for a while.” The member went on to say, “As conservatives, we believe these changes will bring great prosperity and increased productivity to the state. He has also pledged to address problems such as the opioid epidemic and rising student debt.”

The member also criticizes Northam’s campaign, claiming the that candidate has only focused on the wealthier areas of Virginia.

“Ed Gillespie has visited every corner of Virginia, while Ralph Northam has stayed tied to his affluent donor base in Northern Virginia,” the member said.

Patrick Miller, a graduate student in VCU’s school of education and a member of the Young Democratic Socialists at VCU, said that he’s voting for Northam but is frustrated about the election as a whole.

“Northam is an uninspiring Democrat hack who happens to look good compared to someone as ghoulish as Gillespie,” Miller said. “I would not be surprised if the latter were to win, though I hope for the sake of my queer, femme, and undocumented comrades he doesn’t.”

Miller criticizes Northam’s environmental policies, and wishes the candidate would be more vocal about some of his more left-leaning labor policies.

“Northam’s environmental policy and pro-pipeline stance are frustrating to me, as is the way his moderate base scoffs at this frustration and considers it a ‘purity test,’” Miller said. “I wish Northam had gone after Gillespie for using racial dog whistles in his rhetoric far earlier than now, and that he could be more forthcoming about his anti-right to work stance and pro-$15/hr minimum wage stance.”

While these students are aware of the issues and the importance of this election, they unfortunately are not representative of all the students at VCU. RVA Mag walked around campus asking students what they knew about the election. Many of the responses were disheartening. One student was surprised by the terminology, stating, “You definitely just made up the word gubernatorial.”

Another wasn’t even sure when the election was, stating, “I heard something about that, I think I heard it’s on Tuesday.” Almost as if the election was a rumor floating around.

While some may wish the current political climate was only a rumor, it is a reality. It should go without saying that this election is critically important and that more students need to be aware. As a state university with the third largest student body in the Commonwealth, it’s depressing that some students know so little.

“I know the Democrat is Northman or something like that. Is there even a Republican candidate?”

These students’ obliviousness to next week’s election was not reflective of everyone spoken to. However, few knew much more than the candidates’ names and party affiliations. When we asked students if they were planning on voting next Tuesday many responded with, “Yeah, if I have time.” …meaning no, they will not.  

Next Tuesday, all eyes will be on Virginia, and when these students don’t show up at the polls, they will be sacrificing their voice in the democratic process. If Gillespie wins and this liberal student body hits the streets in protest, you can bet those uninformed, non-voting students will be out there chanting, too.

*Caitlin Barbieri contributed to this report.

 

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