Tracy William Thorne-Begland (born October 3, 1966) is an American judge, currently serving on the Circuit Court of Richmond, Virginia.
[2] During the 1992 presidential campaign, he appeared on the television news program Nightline to criticize the Navy's policy of excluding homosexuals, identifying himself as gay, and was honorably discharged from the service.
After serving twelve years as a prosecutor, Thorne-Begland was nominated for an open seat on the General District Court of Richmond in 2012, but the Virginia House of delegates rejected him for the position for his perceived advocacy on homosexual issues.
[3][4][5] Following his graduation from Vanderbilt University, he entered the US Navy in 1988, inspired by reading Stephen Coonts' novel Flight of the Intruder about naval aviators in the Vietnam War.
[6] He was first in his flight training class, and served in Attack Squadron 65, the "Fighting Tigers", at Oceana Naval Air Station flying the A-6 Intruder.
[6] In April he spoke with an aide of Colorado congresswoman Pat Schroeder, who encouraged him to go public with his story to build popular support for a bill to overturn the ban on gay service members.
He told the senators that his discussion with his peers following his television disclosure was "a nonevent" and called the policy banning service by homosexuals "Government-sanctioned discrimination.
[4] While Thorne's discharge proceedings were under way, he was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for "superb leadership, exceptional professionalism and total devotion to duty".
[14] Before the vote, the conservative advocacy group Family Foundation of Virginia lobbied heavily against his nomination due to his homosexuality and past activism.
[15] On May 14, the day of the scheduled vote on Thorne-Begland's appointment, Republican governor Bob McDonnell stated that the candidate's sexuality should not be an issue: "All I can tell you is what I've always said about judges, and that is that these ought to be merit-based selections solely based on a person's skill, ability, fairness, judicial temperament".
[13] Some House Republicans were critical of Thorne-Begland's lying to the Navy about his homosexuality, stating that his violation of the military's code of conduct made him unfit for a judgeship.
[15] Thorne-Begland's supporters described the opposition to his appointment as "discrimination" and "bigotry", while his opponents described it as a necessary measure against his "aggressive activist homosexual agenda".
[20] Stephanie Cutter of US president Barack Obama's re-election campaign described Thorne-Begland as "overly-qualified" for the post, stating "He is a well-known successful prosecutor ... That is how the legislature should be making these decisions.
"[24] Thorne-Begland commented that he was "looking forward to continuing to serve the citizens of the city of Richmond and the great commonwealth of Virginia" in his role as a prosecutor.