GOP congressman officiates SSM; GOP effort to censure him fails

essentialsaltes · Jul 30, 2019

A small number of Republicans on a congressional district committee tried to censure Rep. Denver Riggleman because he officiated a same-sex marriage earlier this month.

Wendell Johnson, who represents Bedford County on the committee, tried to introduce a motion in open session to officially reprimand the first-term congressman, a Republican from Afton.

“I move that the committee censure Denver Riggleman for failing to uphold the Republican Party platform in that it states ‘marriage is between one man and one woman,’ ” the motion read.

Only four people voted in favor, so the motion failed, ending the censure effort.

Riggleman wed two men on July 14 in Crozet. They are conservative Republicans who volunteered for Riggleman’s campaign last year. The Washington Post first reported the event.

TLK Valentine · Jul 30, 2019

Kind of makes you wonder why it's such a crucial part of their platform when they don't even believe in it themselves...

Speedwell · Jul 30, 2019

TLK Valentine said:
Kind of makes you wonder why it's such a crucial part of their platform when they don't even believe in it themselves...

Of course not. Just as with abortion, prohibitions like that are only for the "lower orders."

Hank77 · Jul 30, 2019

TLK Valentine said:
Kind of makes you wonder why it's such a crucial part of their platform when they don't even believe in it themselves...

I said today in another thread that many would be surprised if we knew what each Congressperson Really believes.

TLK Valentine · Jul 30, 2019

Hank77 said:
I said today in another thread that many would be surprised if we knew what each Congressperson Really believes.

Surprising and irrelevant -- 525 invertebrates; not a backbone to be found in the lot.

Richard T · Jul 31, 2019

Virginia is fairly liberal, so it likely will not matter as to this politicians future, especially since he seems to have strong support from the district committee. What could happen though is that the more conservative Republicans will run a challenger in the next GOP primary.

essentialsaltes · Jun 14, 2020

They managed to get rid of him. And @Richard T was absolutely correct, except that it was not quite a primary.

A Republican congressman, whose decision to officiate a same-sex wedding last year angered some local Republicans, lost his party's nomination to a conservative challenger in Saturday's drive-thru convention.

All day Saturday, delegates voted in the 5th District's GOP convention by driving through the parking lot of a Lynchburg church -- a change in format due to the coronavirus pandemic. The church was the only voting location in the expansive district, which stretches from the North Carolina border north toward the outer suburbs of Washington, DC.

Note that this was a convention of official GOP delegates, rather than a primary election of voters.

Riggleman's campaign had pushed to have a primary rather than a convention, which restricts the participants to GOP delegates, who tend to be more conservative party activists than typical primary voters.

The congressman's campaign also pushed to have the location of the convention moved, accusing the district's GOP committee of favoring Good since the church is located in his home county. But the committee rejected the campaign's appeal last month.

Good jumped into the race in September, accusing Riggleman in an interview with The Hill of having "betrayed" the trust of the conservative Republican base of his Virginia district, which includes Charlottesville and Danville.

He opposes same-sex marriage and abortion without exceptions, while Riggleman sees same-sex marriage as an issue of individual liberty and supports some exceptions to bans on abortion.

An immigration hardliner, Good wants to end birthright citizenship and make English the official national language to "stop accommodating immigrants and their native tongues, because it's our unity that's our strength," according to The Roanoke Times.

ThatRobGuy · Jun 14, 2020

...it's the issue with having only two "option packages" in a nation of 330 million people, combined with a "you're either 100% with us, or 100% against us" mentality.

It leaves zero room for nuance.

It leaves no home for someone who's
Gay & Fiscally Conservative
Pro-choice & pro-gun
Pro-drug legalization, but anti-union
Pro-military & pro-environmental regulation
etc...

It's unfortunate that signing up for a cable TV packages offers more granular options than selecting government representation.

FireDragon76 · Jun 15, 2020

I always wonder about any self-respecting LGBT person that is a Republican. I can understand the Log Cabin Republicans working to try to change the party's bigoted platform, but you have to be willing to put up with alot of heat in the process.

KCfromNC · Jun 15, 2020

TLK Valentine said:
Kind of makes you wonder why it's such a crucial part of their platform when they don't even believe in it themselves...

But if we don't pretend to pander to low information voters, how else can we get them to vote against their economic best interests?

TLK Valentine · Jun 15, 2020

KCfromNC said:
But if we don't pretend to pander to low information voters, how else can we get them to vote against their economic best interests?

By turning them into misinformation voters, of course.

Give them a hearty distrust of all other sources of information, and you never run the risk of them educating themselves.

ThatRobGuy · Jun 15, 2020

FireDragon76 said:
I always wonder about any self-respecting LGBT person that is a Republican. I can understand the Log Cabin Republicans working to try to change the party's bigoted platform, but you have to be willing to put up with alot of heat in the process.

Likely just depends on what values a person has, and how they rank them.

If a person happens to be gay, but agrees with the GOP on everything else, it wouldn't make much sense for them to vote against their interests on everything else for the sake of that one particular thing would it?

Not everyone's political ideologies are entirely wrapped up in one characteristic.

Just as an example, if you had a gay guy, but he was pro-life, in favor of lower taxes, opposed universal healthcare, was in favor of less federal regulation, pro-gun, and wasn't particularly interested in environmental causes, would you suggest they vote for? I'd say probably libertarian, but I know many folks feel that's a wasted vote when people go 3rd party.

From just an objective point, in current times, I'd say we're a lot closer to the GOP coming around on Gay Marriage than we are to the Democrats changing their views on all the other issues I listed, yes?

FireDragon76 · Jun 16, 2020

ThatRobGuy said:
Likely just depends on what values a person has, and how they rank them.

If a person happens to be gay, but agrees with the GOP on everything else, it wouldn't make much sense for them to vote against their interests on everything else for the sake of that one particular thing would it?

Not everyone's political ideologies are entirely wrapped up in one characteristic.

Just as an example, if you had a gay guy, but he was pro-life, in favor of lower taxes, opposed universal healthcare, was in favor of less federal regulation, pro-gun, and wasn't particularly interested in environmental causes, would you suggest they vote for? I'd say probably libertarian, but I know many folks feel that's a wasted vote when people go 3rd party.

But one also has to factor in the fact that Republicans aren't just "anti-gay marriage", like there's some kind of policy disagreement. A large segment of the party considers gays little more than pedophiles headed for hell. One would have to have very thick skin to live with that fundamental insult to ones dignity.

ThatRobGuy · Jun 17, 2020

FireDragon76 said:
But one also has to factor in the fact that Republicans aren't just "anti-gay marriage", like there's some kind of policy disagreement. A large segment of the party considers gays little more than pedophiles headed for hell. One would have to have very thick skin to live with that fundamental insult to ones dignity.

...but like I also touched on, if you're that gay voter who agrees with them on everything else. It's pragmatic to look at the trends and see that the GOP seems to be coming around a lot more on that topic.

Republican support for it has gone from 16% to 40% over the past 15 years.

So if you're a gay person who likes guns & lower taxes, fewer business regulations, etc..., it's reasonable to surmise that Republicans will "come around" on the SSM issue sooner than the Democrats will "come around" on the other issues listed, correct?

We'll reach a republican majority support for gay marriage far sooner than we can expect democrats to have majority support for gun rights and lower taxes (and I don't think the latter will happen at all actually)

GOP congressman officiates SSM; GOP effort to censure him fails

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