Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has yet to take a stance on state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's prosecution of 47-year-old man who solicited a 17-year-old girl under the state's anti-sodomy law.
A spokesman for the McAuliffe has not responded to multiple requests for the Democrat's stance on the case, reports the Weekly Standard:
Liberal blogs have been ridiculing Virginia attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli for prosecuting a 47-year-old man named William Scott MacDonald under Virginia’s anti-sodomy law. While the prosecution is an obvious sign to some in the press that Cuccinelli is backward and bigoted, Cuccinelli’s Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe has not yet taken a clear position on the issue.
McAuliffe spokesman Josh Scherwin said on Wednesday that the prosecution "is just another example of Ken Cuccinelli ignoring the economy and instead focusing on his divisive ideological agenda." But Scherwin has refused to respond to multiple requests from THE WEEKLY STANDARD to state whether or not McAuliffe actually thinks MacDonald should be prosecuted under the anti-sodomy statute.
Cuccinelli has challenged a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that the state cannot prosecute the 47-year-old man under the law, according to the Washington Post:
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled on March 12 that Virginia’s "Crimes Against Nature" statute, which banned oral and anal sex, violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. One judge dissented, agreeing with a lower court that the Supreme Court’s ruling inLawrence v. Texas on sodomy laws applied only to consenting adults. The case in question involved a teenage girl and a 47-year-old man, William Scott MacDonald, who was convicted of soliciting a minor to commit a felony.
A petition was filed on Cuccinelli’s behalf asking for the full 15-judge court to reconsider the panel’s decision. LGBT advocates have expressed disappointment, saying the law is unconstitutional and anti-gay. [...]
Cuccinelli agrees with the dissenting judge, Albert Diaz, who was appointed to the 4th Circuit by President Obama in 2009, who argued for deference to the Virginia Court of Appeals.
In Virginia, sex with a minor who is 15 or older can be a misdemeanor but not a felony. (MacDonald was also convicted of the misdemeanor of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and is not challenging that decision.)