The House of Delegates' rejection of a judgeship for Richmond prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland carries a stench of bigotry that will shame Virginia beyond this year's legislative session.
"People can clearly look at Tracy's record and instantly understand he was qualified to serve on that court, beyond any smoke-and-mirror tricks or other distractive arguments," said James Parrish, executive director of the nonprofit gay-rights group Equality Virginia.
"It's clear to everyone that he wasn't selected because he's an out gay man," Parrish said. "Once again, we are in the national news for all the wrong reasons. And it's embarrassing."
Efforts to gain equality for gays and lesbians would appear to be taking one step forward and two steps back. President Barack Obama's historic announcement of his support of marriage equality was sandwiched between two rebukes: North Carolina's vote to ban same-sex marriage and the sole rejection of Thorne-Begland among more than three dozen judicial nominees.
This homophobic snub by conservative Republicans — which caught the attention of the national media and the White House — is too brazen to ignore.
"People can empathize and feel personal attacks, and that's what this issue feels like," said Kent Willis, who will retire next month after 23 years as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. "This may bring a lot of people who haven't really thought of this issue so much to the side of gay and lesbian rights."
Despite halting progress, the winds are clearly shifting in that direction.
Most young people are already on board. And despite the sad case in North Carolina, where black voters heavily supported a same-sex marriage ban, Obama's shift mirrors a palpable evolution among other African-Americans. When a boxing champ (Floyd Mayweather) and a rapper (Jay-Z) support gay marriage, change is in the air.
"Each time at a critical point in our history, we embrace the right thing," Willis said.
"At some point, we will look back on the struggle on gay and lesbian rights and say, 'How were we so wrong for so long?'"
Del. Bob Marshall, a Republican from Prince William, appears content to be the George Wallace of gay and lesbian rights, a defiant symbol standing at the bedroom door. "Sodomy is not a civil right," he pronounced Thursday, burnishing his reputation as an advocate of government intrusion at its most obscene.
Thorne-Begland's critics painted him as an "activist" whose support of same-sex marriage and defiance of the now-defunct "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military rendered him unsuitable for the bench.
Never mind the absurd idea that judicial nominees arrive as a blank slate. The notion that someone who is gay would bring a prejudicial viewpoint to decision-making "implies that you should assume prejudice" because of a nominee's religion, gender or race, Willis said.
The "don't ask, don't tell" argument against Thorne-Begland was insipid — akin to hammering a public official today for opposing Jim Crow. Like other government "separate but equal" doctrines, "don't ask" should never have been inscribed as policy.
It's one thing for Thorne-Begland to have endured discrimination in the military. It's something else for Republican lawmakers to treat this decorated Navy officer like a second-class citizen. If that sounds familiar, it should. Black veterans returned from World War II and Korea to endure shameful treatment at home.
Still, many black Americans cling to a denial about this shared history of oppression — from the assaults on marriage rights, to discrimination in the military, to the use of the Bible as a tool of subjugation instead of salvation. And the shabby treatment of Thorne-Begland should shine a light on the state's stubborn refusal to legislate workplace protections for gays and lesbians.
Conservative lawmakers took issue with Thorne-Begland because he supports fairness and equality, traits that should be part of the job description for a judge.
Again, Virginia came down on the wrong side of equality and history. How much longer can we be wrong?
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