misogyny, religious intolerance or racism characterized that toxicity rather than locker room style homophobia?  Should a person drop out?

I haven't seen anything to contradict the idea that the statements by Kaine and Warner were intended to preserve the GLBT friendly income stream to Dems.

whether it was homophobia or whatever.  Unfortunately, though, it made it impossible for Jeff Dion to conduct an effective campaign, and that's just really sad.  However, it's also reality, and Dion obviously recognized that.  We have a looong way to go as a society, that's all I have to say.

is that these events support the viewpoint that within the Democratic community the NOVA/ROVA polarity has little basis in ideology, rather it is much more of a tribal and territorial construct.

It was unfair that his sexuality should play a part in the race, but the fact is that it would have, and he would've lost because of it.  Yes, it's sad and distrubing and not very American, but it's the truth.  But Jeff has stepped aside for the good of the party and the Commonwealth.  This was a brave move, and we owe him our thanks.

if the toxicity were a response to something like reading the Confederate catechism every night at bedtime, I trust you would demonstrate similar aplomb.

If somebody who had a history of admiring the confederacy decided to run for Congress in the 3rd District, I would hope they would do the same as Dion and step out as soon as we had a stronger candidate. 

Look, all I'm saying is that in most parts of this commonwealth, I don't think people will be willing to elect an openly gay man or woman into office.  No, it shouldn't be as important as issues and policy, but for some reason it is right now.  We've all seen this year in the transportation problem what Republicans have done with the majority.  I'm not about protecting feelings right now.  I'm about taking back the majority and protecting the welfare of every person in the commonwealth as a whole.

By the way, nice use of aplomb there. ;)

I seem to recall he lost the party nomination--so from that perspective he would have been cannibalizing votes.

As far as stepping aside for the good of the party and the Commonwealth go, I don't know how you can make inferences based on his sexual orientation. 

I suspect you were clumsily stating that because other people do weight sexual orientation of candidates to the exclusion of all factors that it would undermine his chances.  I would agree with you.  But, it's also important to note that that fairly embarrassing fact tells a person a lot more about the prospective voters than it does about the candidate.  The earth is flat and Adam walked with the dinosaurs, eh? 

It does not take much to read between the lines that he may have been bullied by the Party to drop out of the race. Its amazing that in 2007 we are still allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed with the desire for victory at any sacrice for others except ourselves. I feel saddened that in 2007 a man must withdraw from a race due to sexual orientation regardless of his position on issues. Since we are saying its all about politics; I think an opportunity was lost to embrace Jeff Dion's run for delegate as opportunity by the Party itself instead it has so aligned itself unintentionally with the ideology of the far right of the other side. Just so I get this right, we would except or tolerate for some, Jeff teaching our children, coaching our youth, becoming preacher or religious figure, or basically becoming anyhting in life he choses along with hundreds of thousands of Virginans of a different sexual orientation, but wait we can't let him run for the House of Delegates...instead of making the other side make the case that a gay man should not be elected in a caimpaign that would have made them look like complete biggits....you made the case for them, way to go !!!!!

Way to go J. Scott. For many years I was an "R"  After the 2000 GOP Primary, I became a very hard working "D". Now, my disgust with values that say one thing and actions that say another makes me think an "I" is in my future.

just like anything else when it comes to politics. Dion was simply running in the wrong district, or in the wrong time in the right district--- he would have done okay in, say, parts of Alexandria or Arlington, so I do not see that the district's Party leadership bullied him. I would not therefore become an Independent on the basis of this one sad situation. It's the district that is toxic, and you have to operate in and win elections in the milieu you have.

Start from where you are, not from where you'd like to be.  And then work like hell to change the milieu thereafter.  Never give up.

Reality is....they did give up! And speaking to friends in the area there was more than one Episcopal sermon appropriately spoken about tolerance Sunday with reference to this particular issue at hand. Result. People once again are looking at the Democratic Party apparatus with suspicion in NVA and may simply just stay home on election day. Democrats will be asking for the support of the gay community in local and national elections in 2008 and will someone explain to me why any of us should be suprised if they simply stay home in Virginia or look to another party. Your not a "new Democratic Party" until you demonstrate the willingness to endorse and support one of your own regardless of sexual orientation, color, race or creed. Until then my fiends it is BUSINESS AS USUAL in the Commonwealth and we all lose.

There is little or no definitive evidence to support the assertion in some of the comments in this thread that candidates who are openly gay can't win in Virginia legislative districts outside of Alexandria or Arlington. 

In fact, there is significant evidence from winning campaigns in far more conservative states like Alabama and Arkansas (in addition to a poll that Jeff had done in his district) that shows that most voters do not care about a candidate's orientation, but are focused on what kind of leadership/constituent services he/she could provide.

There is no question that the DPVA and House Democratic Caucus leaders leaned on Dion to get him out based on their "belief" that being gay is a disqualifying factor for any candidate in his district. The proof of this is that they were leaning on Jeff well before the gay.com controversy sparked by BVBL.  These same folks would probably have said the same to any Latino candidate in this district and, perhaps, to an African American candidate as well (they have discouraged Latino and African American candidates in other districts in NOVA and elsewhere).

It is clear that the party has yet to get beyond the stereotypes and old boy/girlism that too often drives the decision about who would or would not make a "winning" candidate (see, e.g., "Kerry has the best chance to win"; "Hilary can/can't win depending on who you talk with;" "if Doug Wilder runs for statewide office it will kill the ticket and drag the party down (1985)").  In this respect, the party is lagging behind the voters.

In some respects the conventional wisdom purveyors are like those who say that someone with an LSAT below a certain score can't succeed in law school. All we really know about the LSAT is that there is a correlation between performance on the test and first year performance (not ultimate graduation and not bar passage). We don't really know how those who score lower might do, because those folks never get admitted and have the chance to prove the statistical assumption that they would do poorly wrong.

Neither will Jeff have the opportunity to prove the pundits and reflexive thinking risk averse scions of the Party wrong.  Nor will any other young, energetic, "different" candidate who steps up early, puts his/her heart/wallet on the line without the blessing of those who think "conventional" and "wisdom" add up to something other than a justification of the past as a predictor of the present. 

Who knows whether Jeff (or any other out gay candidate) would have won a properly financed and enthusiastically supported general election campaign in this district?  We don't and won't.

And, the lesson to other members of the GLBT community in Virginia from Jeff's experience --- make sure that you live where the Democratic Party thinks you should live or don't expect the Party (or its leaders) ever to support your candidacy for public office.

P.S. Don't give me a bunch of stuff about Jeff's performance in the supervisor's race being of significance here.  It was a different district and Jeff started from scratch on name ID in a very short term special election battle.  Not the same here.