Tracy Thorne-Begland and the Politics of Bigotry and Shame

“So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.”  Immanuel KantCenturies ago, Virginians too numerous to name were vanguards of freedom, people of immense courage and deep principle who in large part forged and then led the United States of America. Their principles, born in Virginia, became the nation of laws that is still a beacon to the entire world.In 1967, Richard and Mildred Loving, two more courageous Virginians, led with their own names as plaintiffs the defeat of a despicable anti-miscegenation law. They birthed freedom for couples everywhere who could then build lives together despite the accident of skin color.In 1992, after three years as a top Navy fighter pilot, Tracy Thorne-Begland decided that, while his life was worth giving up for his country, his integrity was not. He challenged the military’s odious ban on homosexual conduct and suffered life-changing consequences because of it. His acts, while remarkably courageous and principled, were simply a part of his heritage. And while it took almost a generation for that ban to fall, it finally did. Again, the principle and the courage of a Virginian was integral to the effort of achieving freedom.Last week, that Virginian, after strong bi-partisan support, the approval of the judicial vetting committee, 12 honorable years as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney and demonstrable qualifications for a judgeship, was denied it by the legislature because of the unchangeable and innate fact of his sexual orientation. In so doing, the House of Delegates-- the oldest continuous legislative body on the American continent and the very model for all that came after-- rejected not only this honorable Virginian, but everything the Commonwealth of Virginia has stood for in five centuries. Once again, as in the civil rights era, the very ideals Virginia is supposed to embody are mocked and will be tarnished. Once again, the promise of freedom that defines a great Commonwealth is thwarted by the ignorant and hateful impulses of a fading order.The exertions of the Virginia-based Family Foundation are credited for derailing the candidacy of Thorne-Begland, a man dedicated to a partner he can’t call a spouse, yet resides in a lifetime commitment with, raising children, paying taxes and making his community richer, healthier and more vibrant. I don’t know Thorne-Begland personally, but I was also an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Virginia and practiced before the same type of judges he would have joined. As a General District Court Judge in particular, he would almost certainly never have confronted an issue that would have presented any sort of conflict with the circumstances under which he seeks to build a life. Regardless, Thorne-Begland knew how to avoid them, pledged do so, and would have been no more subject to the challenge of impartiality at any level than, say, an outspoken religious figure that the Family Foundation would have trumpeted as a judicial candidate.Thankfully, the Family Foundation and all groups like it will eventually inherit the wind. The freedom Thorne-Begland fought for as a Navy pilot will eventually become reality in Virginia is it has for the military and other environments willing to reject bigotry and embrace tolerance of the essence of what people are. But his repudiation by the leadership of the state, for reasons that will soon be seen as universally and transparently wrong, are hobbling the Commonwealth just as North Carolina will be hobbled by its tragic step backward.So it’s worth noting that Jesus himself, whom the Family Foundation so hypocritically and inaccurately caricatures in order to promote its venom, said nothing about homosexuality. But in Matthew 10:14, he provides a warning, and one that should echo ominously in the ears of anyone who cares about a Virginia not marked and then shunned because of bigotry it could not defeat with its own elected leadership: “If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake the dust off of your feet when you leave that home or town.”Begland-Thorne and his family don’t appear to be going anywhere, a blessed circumstance for their community and their Commonwealth. But they could be forgiven for doing just that.