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Virginia Republican candidate for lieutenant governor John Reid during a campaign event in Vienna, Virginia, July 2025
It's a statewide political ticket of extremes.
In a campaign defined by scandal and contradiction, Virginia lieutenant governor candidate John Reid, an out gay Republican, confirmed that his running mate, gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, is “100 percent against” marriage equality. The admission, made in a recent radio interview, came just days after Reid was newly linked to a Nazi-themed pornography blog on a social media account he allegedly operated.
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Speaking on The Wilkow Majority radio show, Reid was asked to name an issue on which he and Earle-Sears disagree, Heartland Signal reports. “She’s not for gay marriage. She’s 100 percent against it,” he said, adding that her Jamaican upbringing and religious beliefs shaped her position. “We are both willing to put aside our differences and say what’s in the best interest of the Commonwealth,” he said. “I’m not going to kowtow to anybody. I’m not going to deny who I am to make somebody else feel comfortable.”
The statement highlighted a striking incongruity: a gay man running alongside a woman who has spent decades opposing LGBTQ+ rights. Earle-Sears, Virginia’s current lieutenant governor, has a long record of anti-LGBTQ+ positions. In a 2004 candidate survey, she described homosexuality as an “immoral lifestyle choice” and supported allowing businesses to fire gay employees because of their sexual orientation. Two decades later, her stance appears unchanged.
In 2024, she wrote a note on House Bill 174, a measure ensuring that same-sex couples could not be denied marriage licenses, declaring herself “morally opposed to the content.” Earlier this year, she again invoked her faith in defending her opposition to marriage equality, telling a Richmond television station she supported civil unions instead.
Reid’s comments come amid deepening scrutiny over his own conduct. Earlier this year, he was linked to a Tumblr account that contained nude imagery allegedly posted under an alias associated with him. Glenn Youngkin, the state’s Republican governor, called for Reid to step away from the race at the time. Last week, an American Journal News report tied that same account to Nazi-themed pornography, including content fetishizing slavery and white supremacy.
Reid’s longtime partner, Alonzo Mable, is Black.
Reid has denied any connection to the Tumblr account that used the same alias Reid currently uses on TikTok and Instagram. Archives of the account indicate its existence dating back to 2014.
Though Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, Virginia’s 2006 constitutional amendment banning it remains on the books. If the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Obergefell, that ban would again become enforceable.
Democrats in Richmond have advanced an amendment to enshrine marriage equality in the state constitution permanently, but it must pass both chambers again next year before heading to voters. Control of the House of Delegates, for which all 100 seats are up for election in November, could determine whether the amendment moves forward.
Reid has opposed the proposal.
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