Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken
Cuccinelli says he remains opposed to the “personal challenge of
homosexuality.”
Cuccinelli reiterated his opposition
during a televised debate Saturday against his Democratic challenger,
Terry McAuliffe.
“In connection with gay rights, you
said several years ago that you believe that same-sex acts are
against nature and are harmful to society. Do you still believe
that?” PBS' Judy Woodruff asked Cuccinelli.
“My personal beliefs about the
personal challenge of homosexuality haven't changed,” Cuccinelli
answered.
As Virginia's current attorney general,
Cuccinelli, 44, continues to defend the state's sodomy law, despite a
2003 Supreme Court ruling declaring such laws unconstitutional. His
office argues that its law protects children from sexual predators.
At the website VAChildPredators.com, Cuccinelli highlights 90 people
identified as “sexual predators” who “would come off Virginia's
sex offender registry if a Virginia law … is not upheld.”
Cuccinelli's running mate, Bishop E.W.
Jackson, recently claimed that the media has taken his anti-gay
comments out of context, saying that he only condemns the actions of
the “gay rights movement, so-called homosexual activists.”
(Related: VA
GOP Lt. Gov. nominee E.W. Jackson says anti-gay comments taken out of
context.)