Antigay Watch List: The Worst Who Want Your Vote

George Allen, U.S. Senate, Virginia
George Allen, who lost a Senate reelection bid in 2006 after being caught on tape using a derogatory racial term, is seeking to return to the chamber this year. Perhaps he’d like to go back to a time before that incident happened; at least, his campaign website reveals an anachronism. It says that as senator, he would “vote against adding sexual orientation to federal hate crimes statutes,” not mentioning that a bill doing just that was passed and signed into law in 2009. Maybe this son of a pro football coach needs to watch an instant replay. Or maybe he just felt the need to appease social conservatives, who were upset by his support of such legislation earlier in his career, leading him to make a right turn and vote against an inclusive hate-crimes measure in 2005. His website also notes that he “does not support same-sex couples adopting children” and thinks the Defense of Marriage Act “does not fully protect the institution of marriage,” so he supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to keep gay couples out.