ABOVE: Dr. Doug Ward. (Photo courtesy Ward’s campaign)
Doug Ward, a physician in private practice for 34 years with a specialty in HIV medicine, is running as a Democrat for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in a rural district held by Republican incumbent Michael Webert, who has repeatedly voted against LGBTQ supportive legislation.
Ward, 71, states on his campaign website that he and his husband, Rev. Earl Johnson, have been married for 22 years. He acknowledges he is facing a “very tough race” in the November general election in the GOP leaning 18th District that includes large sections of Rappahannock and Fauquier Counties.
Ward notes that President Joe Biden and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam each lost in the 18th District by sizable margins while incumbent Webert has won in the rural district that includes parts of the Shenandoah National Park since first winning election to the district in 2011.
“It is a really conservative district,” he told the Washington Blade. “It will be a very tough race for me. But we need someone to run against him,” said Ward, who points out that Webert has voted against virtually all the progressive legislation passed in 2020 by the Democratic-controlled Virginia Legislature, including LGBTQ bills.
Among the bills approved by the legislature that Webert voted against were the Virginia Values Act, which expands the state’s nondiscrimination law to include LGBTQ people in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. Webert also voted ‘no’ on a bill that bans use of the so-called LGBTQ “panic” defense in criminal trials and against a bill to ban the use of conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors.
He also voted against a bill approved by lawmakers to repeal a provision in the Virginia Constitution outlawing same-sex marriage in the state. Although the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide made the Virginia Constitution provision unenforceable, civil rights advocates called for its repeal on grounds that it was a symbol of anti-LGBTQ bias.
In its legislative scorecard, the statewide LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Virginia gave Webert a rating of 6 percent out of a possible perfect score of 100 percent for his voting record on LGBTQ-related bills in the 2020 legislative session.
Ward said he would have voted for all of the dozen or more LGBTQ measures passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2020, which Equality Virginia called a historic development for Virginia.
In addition to being a strong advocate for LGBTQ rights, Ward said that, if elected, he would support improving medical services to rural parts of the state such as his district, raising the minimum wage, and expanding broadband and cell phone service in parts of the state such as the 18th District, where service is lacking.
“Broadband and even cell coverage is a major problem in rural areas,” he said. “This is more than a problem of convenience, but impacts education, healthcare, and the economy. It’s embarrassing that our access to this is so poor.”
On his campaign website, Webert describes himself as a “family man, a farmer and a business owner” with “strong ties to the environment and conservation.” His website says he has and would continue to be a strong advocate for 2nd Amendment gun owner’s rights, protecting the unborn and reducing taxes.
