Winsome Earle-Sears Sears Touts Endorsers Who Equate Being Gay to Being a Pedophile and Say LGBTQ People Have “Confused Minds”

Yep, that’s Winsome Earle-Sears for you. So is her running mate, John Reid, cool with this virulent, unhinged homophobic bigotry at the top of the VA GOP ticket??? (see below for a press release from DPVA on the latest Earle-Sears insanity)

NEW: Sears Touts Endorsers Who Equate Being Gay to Being a Pedophile and Say LGBTQ People Have “Confused Minds”

VIRGINIA – New reporting from Salon details how Winsome Earle-Sears has touted multiple anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion endorsers who have equated homosexuality to being a pedophile and said LGBTQ people have “confused minds.”

The reporting also highlighted an op-ed Sears penned saying that “society has gone immeasurably beyond almost all standards in accommodating the homosexual community over the last couple of decades” and called for a constitutional amendment “preserving the institution of marriage to be between a man and a woman.”

Salon: Fear of “gay blood” and “confused minds”: Virginia Republican touts support from anti-gay preachers

• […] That win is also drawing increased scrutiny to Earle-Sears, an ultraconservative Marine veteran, and her touting of endorsements from a slew of clergy who have espoused anti-LGBTQ+ views.

• The state’s first Black and female lieutenant governor has listed on her campaign website, as well as boosted on social media, the endorsements of at least four Virginia clergymen who have made anti-LGBTQ+ remarks or whose religious institutions promote anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs.

• With public opinion polls showing that the majority of Virginians support LGBTQ+ equality and freedoms, Earle-Sears’ anti-LGBTQ+ stance raises questions about her viability in a general election campaign and how she would govern if she were to win.

• Earle-Sears’ campaign did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

• Earle-Sears, now the state GOP’s first Black and female nominee for governor, has since last fall touted endorsements from religious leaders in the state who espouse views on LGBTQ+ Americans that are out of step with the majority of Virginians.

• In a 2016 Facebook post, an account with the name Craig Johnson, and with his picture as the profile’s image, posted: “The gays and their defenders always claimed that it was unfair to lump them in with pedophiles, but the slippery slope that many warned of now has the psychology racket removing pedophilia from the list of mental disorders the same way they did for homosexuality years ago.”

• In another post from 2015, that same account reposted an article arguing against allowing “gay blood” to be used for transfusions in hospitals following reports that the Food and Drug Administration lifted its lifetime ban on accepting those blood donations. “Common Sense RIP,” the account wrote at the time. Johnson did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

• Another endorser named on Earle-Sears campaign website is Don Blake, president and chairman of the Virginia Christian Alliance.

• The same account, in a 2022 Facebook post about an article on Gov. Glenn Youngkin addressing the state’s LGBTQ+ advisory board, also suggested that LGBTQ+ community leaders have “confused minds” while criticizing LGBTQ+ Americans for what he described as self-identifying with who they have sex with.

• “And they want ‘ Special Rights’,” he continued. “[…] It’s self evident that many have ‘confused’ minds and that some have ‘ very confused minds’.”

• Another post from 2013 saw the account call the country’s National Cathedral a “national disgrace” for ringing its bells to celebrate the Supreme Court decision allowing for same-sex marriage […]

• Blake did not respond to emailed requests for comments.

• Earle-Sears’ own views on LGBTQ+ rights align with those of her endorsers. In May, she made headlines for including a handwritten note on a 2024 law making it unlawful to deny a couple a marriage license based on sex, gender or race, stating that she was “morally opposed” to the “contents of the bill.”

• When asked last month about the note, […] she told 8News’ Tyler Englander […] “ a civil union, fine.”

• In May, the Jamaica-born official also spoke at the commencement ceremonies of two Virginia schools whose policies or stated beliefs deride homosexuality: her alma mater, Regent University, from which she graduated in 2003, and Atlantic Shores Christian School.

• Regent University, per its student handbook, describes “homosexual conduct” as prohibited “sexual misconduct,” which it also says includes “lewd, indecent, or obscene conduct or expression.” Atlantic Shores Christian School states on its website that it believes homosexuality and bisexuality are “sinful and prohibited.”

• For her part, Earle-Sears’ stance on same-sex marriage has been consistent throughout her career and spans decades. In a 2004 Daily Press op-ed, published during her campaign for Congress, she wrote that “society has gone immeasurably beyond almost all standards in accommodating the homosexual community over the last couple of decades” and called for a constitutional amendment “preserving the institution of marriage to be between a man and a woman.”

• Similarly, Earle-Sears staunchly opposes abortion, having written similar notes voicing moral opposition on two reproductive rights bills passed in 2024 and Virginia’s recently passed constitutional amendment enshrining reproductive freedom.

• She has also previously told reporters she considers abortion “genocide,” […], and that she thought abortion should be illegal in all cases […].