Last night, at a fundraiser for his reelection in Arlington, Del. Patrick Hope (D-47) gave a strong speech about the recent Virginia General Assembly session. According to Hope:
Instead, we were talking about really divisive issues. We were talking about abortion. We were talking about eliminating a significantly important piece of legislation, the one-gun-a-month law, that has saved lives across the eastern seaboard…It was divisive from the very beginning. And the other night, this exclamation point where we went after someone who was abundantly and eminently qualified to sit on the bench in Richmond, and we denied him that opportunity for no other reason than because he’s gay, openly so. And it was a real travesty…I hope that when [my kids] that they don’t know the hatred and bigotry that I just saw. My eyes were opened that evening, I know that we differ on a lot of issues down there, but I did not think that we would cross this line and go backwards the way we do…We really missed a golden opportunity in this session...
Great speech by Delegate Hope, now if we could only elect another 50 or so Patrick Hopes to the Virginia House of Delegates, we’d be in great shape!