Jackson Defends 'Sick' Homosexual Rhetoric; Northam Says Comments Have 'No Place' in Virginia

by Jason Spencer

Minister E.W. Jackson, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia, defended some of the controversial statements he's made so far on the campaign trail at an Arlington debate Tuesday night, saying if elected he would be the lieutenant governor of "all Virginians."

Jackson, who has called homosexuals "sick" and saidDemocrats are "anti-God" and "anti-family," said some of his comments had been made in church, where he had been invited to preach. He read a clause from the Virginia Constitution that prohibits the state from interfering with the rights of anyone from practicing religion and said he would represent all Virginians if elected.

"I'm not running to be the preacher, pastor, or theologian of Virginia," he said at George Mason University's Founders Hall in Virginia Square. "What this amounts to is a religious test."

Critics did the same thing to John F. Kennedy, who was Catholic, and Mitt Romney, a Mormon, he said.

"It's not his religion… what matters is how he would govern," he said. "I would govern according to the Constitution of Virginia and the laws of Virginia."

But his opponent, Democratic state Sen. Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurosurgeon from Norfolk, said Jackson's fiery rhetoric has no place in this state.

"Whether it's said in my church, or whether it's said in my medical clinic or whether it's said on the floor of Senate… what is said is from me. One of the jobs of the lieutenant governor is to unite people," Northam said to applause.

"Those kind of statements, whether they are said in a church or in the floor of the Senate, they are offensive to people. They should be offense to all Virginians. And they have no place in the commonwealth of Virginia."

Later, Northam said divisive comments from conservative politicians almost stopped aerospace and defense giant Northrop Grumman from locating its headquarters in Northern Virginia. 

Jackson said he was told by the state's top economic development official that the state's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage had not effected businesses locating here.

He conceded he had "deep convictions" and that he and Northam presented "different worldviews."

Down-ballot races like that of the lieutenant governor rarely draw much interest. 

But the race has added importance this year due to the even split in the Virginia Senate among Democrats and Republicans. The state's lieutenant governor has the power to cast tie-breaking votes.