[B]URLINGTON — The conversion from Republican to Democrat by newly elected Vermont Democratic Party Chair Faisal Gill is a well-known political narrative.
What hasn’t received as much attention is the substance of Republican positions Gill previously espoused. In 2006, as a Virginia Republican mulling a bid for the House of Delegates, Gill participated in a debate where he argued against marriage equality.
“I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman,” Gill said at the time, according to a report in the Connection Newspapers.
“Except for the rights of same-sex couples to get married, this amendment does not take any rights away,” he added, arguing that others were interpreting the impact of the amendment too broadly.
Gill said in a Friday interview that his position changed shortly after he lost his 2007 bid for the House of Delegates. His about-face on marriage equality arose from his own experiences with discrimination at that time, he said.
As a Muslim American, he was not welcomed into the Virginia Republican Party, he said. During his Virginia campaign as a Republican, right-wing bloggers spread rumors he was connected to terrorism because of a federal investigation into a former associate in which he was cleared of any wrongdoing, Gill said.
“I’ve experienced hatred and discrimination. It’s not right,” Gill said. “I defy anyone to go through what I went through with hatred and come out the same way.”
After losing the Virginia election, Gill moved to Los Angeles, where he said he campaigned against Proposition 8, which passed in 2008, making same-sex marriage illegal in the Golden State.
Gill said groups in California were looking for people who had changed their minds on same-sex marriage and that he worked the phones, canvassed and gave money on their behalf.
“One of the things I would say is, ‘Look, I get it. I was in the same boat,’” Gill said, adding that he would then share his own experiences with discrimination and how those led him to change.
His original opposition to same-sex marriage stemmed from his Muslim upbringing, Gill said. Whether being gay is a decision or how someone is born, Gill said it would be discriminatory to oppose their right to marry.
“Either people say you’re born that way, and if that’s the case you’re hating them for how they were born, which is wrong, just like hating someone for their race,” Gill said. “If it’s a choice, then you’re hating someone for a choice. No one made me be Muslim, so again, it’s wrong.”
Conor Casey, executive director of the Vermont Democratic Party, said Gill was forthcoming with Democrats that they might get some heat for his previous Republican positions, though Casey said he did not recall Gill going into specifics.
Casey said having someone lead the party who has experienced an evolution in his own beliefs will actually help grow the party in Vermont by increasing its ability to connect with people who hold opposing views.
“If we excluded all Democrats who formerly held that position (on marriage equality) we’d probably be a minority party,” Casey added.
Gill echoed that sentiment, saying that in 2006 “a lot of Democrats were in the same place I was.” In 2008, when Gill said he began speaking out in favor of marriage equality, it still wasn’t a mainstream position.
“Heck, President Obama (was opposed to same-sex marriage) until, what, 2013?” Gill said. The former president had opposed same-sex marriage but in 2012 declared his support, saying he had experienced “an evolution on this issue.”
Josie Leavitt, interim director of the Pride Center of Vermont, an LGBTQ community group, said she was disappointed to hear that Gill had once opposed marriage equality, but she said she believes people can grow and change.
“Honestly, I think evolutions in thinking are beautiful things,” Leavitt said.
“I don’t know him, and I want to trust that his transformation is real. We’re going to hold him to it, as I’m sure the entire Democratic Party in Vermont will also,” Leavitt added.
