Wow. Virginia’s Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has an apparent “wiener” on the board by the name of Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling). Equality Loudoun‘s Mandated by conscience and constitution gave us this video:

In his 20-minute screed against a motion by Supervisor Stevens Miller’s motion to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the county government’s employment nondiscrimination policy, Photo: Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (Republican, Sterling, Virginia)Sterling Supervisor Delgaudio repeatedly used epithets like men in dresses, freaks fruity and bizarre to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. For transgender people, he also used the term “it.” From the Loudoun Times editorial ‘It’ is a shame, Supervisor Delgaudio:

During remarks in the meeting room of the Board of Supervisors, Delgaudio used the pejorative terms “fruity,” “bizarre” and “freaky” to describe the proposal on sexual orientation for Loudoun citizens.

The word “fruity” belongs on a candy wrapper, not attached to a person.

Further, instead of using the personal pronouns of “him” or “her” during his remarks, Delgaudio preferred to use the term “it” to describe people who might be protected by the new county guidelines.

This was sustained and unrestrained demagoguery targeting human beings.

Beyond that:

Delgaudio saw fit to drive the bigotry home — literally — by sending a mass e-mail to residences across his district that went on to restate the same offensive terms, such as “cross dressing freaks,” and railing against how the county might now “have to treat ‘it’ the same as a normal person.”

Sterling Supervisor Delgaudio kinda-sorta apologized — kinda-sorta — for using the epithet “it” in his commentary referring to trans people, while repeating all of the other pejoratives:

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As Equality Loudoun stated in their piece When an apology is another attack:

As of early last week, Mr. Delgaudio was confirming that yes, he did refer to a hypothetical person as “it,” and that this was “hyperbole.”

…[O]n the evening of January 17, Mr. Delgaudio issued a hasty email revision with the parenthetical “this will make my intent clear.” Not a retraction, not an apology, but a revision, claiming to have said something other than what he actually said.

In his comments during this morning’s board meeting, he repeated that claim, “correcting” his statement to read “..which means if a man dressed as woman wants a job, you have to treat ‘it’ the hiring of this man the same as a normal person a man who wears normal clothing.”

Again, were back to Julia Serano’s Skirt Chasers: Why the Media Depicts the Trans Revolution in Lipstick and Heels as to why the religious right and media focus always seems to be targeting trans women as deceptive or pathetic.

Yesterday, the Washington Post picked up on the story in their piece, entitled Loudoun Supervisor Delgaudio rebuked for anti-gay remarks

At a Jan. 6 meeting, supervisors voted to expand Loudoun’s nondiscrimination policy to prohibit bias on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring by the county. Delgaudio fought the change in the meeting, saying he was especially offended by language in the measure that sought protection for transgendered people. In the debate, he called the board’s attempt to protect transgendered people “freaky” and “bizarre.” In a subsequent newsletter to supporters, Delgaudio wrote that “if a man dressed as a woman wants a job, you have to treat ‘it’ the same as a normal person.”

Those comments drew a sharp rebuke from the Loudoun Times-Mirror on Jan. 13. In an editorial, the paper scolded the supervisor for “sustained and unrestrained demagoguery targeting human beings.” The paper called for an apology and went on to say it cringed “with embarrassment for the image of Loudoun” that the supervisor was projecting.

At the board meeting last week, other supervisors joined the criticism.

…Delgaudio responded, reading a revised statement with the word “it” taken out. He continued: “With apologies to real-life Tootsies” and “to all their defenders who are calling me all sorts of names and, like Mr. Burton, are saying I should apologize.” …

David Weintraub, president of the LGBT civil rights group Equality Loudoun, was quoted in the Washington Post as saying this regarding the Sterling Superviosor and his public statements:

“That said transgendered people are not human. There is a tendency for people around him to roll their eyes and say, ‘There he goes.’ There is a possibility that this sort of performance is contrived or deliberate. I think he is losing control of himself. It’s hard to tell.”

Delgaudio countered in an interview with the Washington Post that he was in full control of his actions:

“I do everything I do on purpose.”

So he purposely meant to call trans people like my trans peers and me “it” and “men in dresses”, and he purposely meant to call LGBT people like my LGBT peers and me freaks fruity and bizarre. Well, that’s just Super!

*Sigh*

Want to send the Sterling Supervisor a message? His contact email is eugene.delgaudio@loudoun.gov. If you decide to email him though, please remember not to use four-letter language in communicating your thoughts. As much as that may help you vent your frustration, using four-letter language would no doubt confirm to him his opinion that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people aren’t truly human is a correct opinion.