During a debate, Winsome Earle-Sears stated that her opposition to same-sex marriage 'is not discrimination.' Abigail Spanberger said Earle-Sears previously said gay couples should not be allowed to marry and suggested Earle-Sears said it would be acceptable to fire someone for being gay. Earle-Sears repeatedly replied, 'That's not discrimination.' LGBTQ advocacy organizations and Democrats criticized the comments. Political observers noted that framing the race around cultural issues and taking a stance against marriage equality could hurt Earle-Sears with liberal voters in Northern Virginia and with fiscally conservative but socially liberal swing voters, underscoring the culture war element of the campaign.
"Spanberger: My opponent has previously said that she does not think that gay couples should be allowed to marry. Earle-Sears interrupted: That's not discrimination. Spanberger continued: [Earle-Sears] said that she is morally opposed to same-sex marriage. Earle-Sears added again: That's not discrimination. Spanberger: My opponent has also previously said that she thinks it's okay for someone to be fired from their job for being gay. That is discrimination. Earle-Sears: That's not discrimination."
"Look, I think Abigail Spanberger is trying to paint Winsome Sears and present her as someone who is very far, too very right-wing, culturally to the right. You know, saying that about marriage, about same-sex marriage, and that discussion probably won't play well for Winsome Sears in Northern Virginia, where you have a lot of liberal voters and also for a lot of swing voters in Virginia who could be fiscally conservative but socially liberal."
Read at www.mediaite.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]