A Republican candidate currently running for Virginia lieutenant governor is suing after someone sent a homophobic mailer and group text message accusing him of being “a gay Democrat.”
Del. Glenn Davis Jr., who is straight, just filed a defamation lawsuit in Norfolk Circuit Court demanding $100,000 in nominal and compensatory damages plus another $350,000 in punitive damages against an unknown defendant.
The text, which was sent last week, urged delegates for the GOP’s upcoming convention to help Davis “come out of the closet” by not ranking him in the convention and to support his opponent Tim Hugo, who is “the only conservative running for Lt. Governor.”
Meanwhile, the mailer, which was paid for by Hugo’s campaign, claimed Davis not a true Republican.
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Both the text and the mailer featured identical imagery of Davis attending a 2010 Pride event wearing a rainbow-striped shirt.
This is really really really crappy from Tim Hugo’s campaign. Seemingly desperate at this point. pic.twitter.com/7MXaDZXa2H
— Joe Szymanski (@JosephSzymanski) April 28, 2021
Davis has accused Hugo of being behind the attacks. Last week, he took to Twitter to call him out: “Tim Hugo sent a mailer attacking me for participating in #Pridefest with @RPofVB. I’m sorry for my colleague’s #homophobia, but I don’t believe the government has any place in our bedrooms PERIOD.”
Tim Hugo sent a mailer attacking me for participating in #Pridefest with @RPofVB. I'm sorry for my colleague's #homophobia, but I don't believe the government has any place in our bedrooms PERIOD. pic.twitter.com/Fed7ql7EDR
— Delegate Glenn Davis (@DelGlennDavis) April 28, 2021
He believes he’s being targeted for not being totally 100% opposed to LGBTQ equality like most of his Republican colleagues. But we still wouldn’t consider him a pro-gay candidate, even if he attended one Pride festival one time 10 years ago.
While he doesn’t actively work against LGBTQ people (thanks, Glenn!), Davis did support Donald Trump and he pals around with a lot of homophobes. On top of that, one of his campaign platforms is “religious freedom,” which everyone knows is code for the legalization of homophobia in the name of Jesus.
We’d describe his attitude toward non cis het people as tolerant, which is better than most Republicans. But he’s a lukewarm ally, at best.
In the lawsuit, Davis says he “unapologetically supports equal treatment for the LGBTQ community” and that “his support of the community does not give an anonymous Defendant authority to send text messages to voters labeling him as ‘GAY.'”
And in a statement about the lawsuit, he called the text “unethical, illegal, and scandalous” and warned, “If bad actions are allowed to go without repercussions, we will never see honesty, integrity, and civil discourse return to GOP politics.”
"These unethical, illegal, and scandalous tactics are detrimental to our party, civil discourse, and the efforts…
Posted by Delegate Glenn Davis on Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Meanwhile, Hugo has denied having anything to do with it, calling the text “ridiculous and offensive” and swearing that it didn’t come from his campaign or any of his associates.
“A recent text sent attacking my opponent Glenn Davis is NOT from our campaign,” Hugo said in a tweet. “We condemn the language used in this ridiculous text. The text that went out tonight falsely identifying as us was illegal. We intend to track down those responsible & hold them accountable.
A recent text sent attacking my opponent Glenn Davis is NOT from our campaign. We condemn the language used in this ridiculous text. The text that went out tonight falsely identifying as us was illegal. We intend to track down those responsible & hold them accountable.
— Tim Hugo (@TimHugo) April 28, 2021
But his campaign manager, Dustin Rhodes, defended the mailer in an interview with local media, saying it was sent out to expose Davis’s “liberal voting record” and noting that the image was taken from Davis’ public Facebook page.
So, just to recap: Davis says he “unapologetically supports” LGBTQ people even though he’s campaigning on a “religious freedom” platform. Hugo says nobody from his camp sent the text message, but his campaign manager admitted to sending the near identical mailer.
If you ask us, all of these guys are assholes.
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
Cam
About time candidates got sued for lying. This should be happening all the time. I wish Democrats would sue more often when Republicans lie about them.
Vince
It’s funny that the few rational positions Davis has like clean air, gun free zones, treating people as humans, and getting more people health insurance is being used to attack him.
It’s really hard to believe that showing just a small amount of support for people you represent is looked at as something bad from these shit at the bottom of the shoes Nazi’s. They’re basically saying he’s bad because he doesn’t hate these people enough like we do.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being gay so accusing someone of it shouldn’t be an automatic defamation case. However, It’s the way it’s being used to attack him that’s the problem.
Fahd
Not sure, but Virginia might be a State where its still possible for a straight person to claim defamation for being called gay. Isn’t that silly? After all, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being gay, so why would calling someone who is straight gay be grounds for a cause of action in defamation? This is a dispute between Republicans, one slightly less onerous then the other, and given the facts/background, it is not going to lead to a case where a judge is going to write a precedent-setting decision, so all things considered, I’d agree with the article’s writer and conclude that everyone involved is just an as*hole.
Mack
It’s a typical Republican smear campaign. This is about all they’re noted for now days: is smears and lies.
dhmonarch89
I sort of know Tim Hugo… my sister and him were in the same High School class- Bayside, VB class of 1981… he seemed like a cool guy back then- but, like most Republicans today- he’s become a total bigot! I was in the same class with Tim’s sister- Lisa, we were good friends and had several classes together. She knew I was gay- later, and was cool about it. We haven’t spoken in years- hopefully she hasn’t gone Trumpist like her brother!
Fahd
If you were good friends, why not use this reminder and reach out to her? Good friends are hard to find.
strap2900
I’d vote for him. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, just saying.