Gay judge nominee challenged in Va. By Laura Vozzella Tracy Thorne-Begland was booted from the Navy 20 years ago, after coming out as a gay man on national TV to challenge the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Now his activism in gay rights is complicating his efforts to land another job, this time as a state judge. The deputy commonwealth attorney for Richmond has been nominated to serve as a judge for the city's 13th General DistrictCourt. The Family Foundation of Virginia issued a statement Friday opposing his appointment, arguing that his outspokennesson behalf of gay rights makes him unsuitable for the impartial role of judge. "The question is, will his personal political agenda take precedent over Virginia law and the Constitution?" the Family Foundation statement reads. Is he going to uphold laws he clearly and very publicly disagrees with? What does he believe is the role of the courts in moving in a more "progressive" direction? These concerns have come to light in the time since members of the General Assembly's Judicial Appointment subcommittee interviewed him. "There is additional concern that, once appointed, a progressively minded judge would be fast-tracked by a Democrat Governor or President to a higher court, like the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals for example," the statement continues. Efforts to reach Thorne-Begland late Friday were unsuccessful. He is one of up to 41 judges that the General Assembly will consider appointing when it reconvenes Monday. Thorne-Begland, a former board member of the gay-rights group Equality Virginia, "rose to prominence in the early 90s with an appearance on Nightline coming out as an openly gay Naval Officer," according to the group's Website. He has since spoken out in favor of gay marriage. He and his partner, a Richmond lawyer, are raising twins. The Family Foundation took issue with that activism, including comments critical of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II. Cuccinelli has advised public universities to retreat from their policies against anti-gay discrimination. "When one is a judicial nominee who has shown himself to be willing to personally violate the law (he violated DADT while in the Navy) and publicly attack a sitting Attorney General when that Attorney General enforces the law, we share the concernsof several members of the Judicial Appointment subcommittee, and would hope that the General Assembly would take a long, hard look at whether that person should be appointed to the bench," the Family Foundation statement says.