Linda Wall, Virginia House Of Delegates Candidate, Admits Lesbian Affair With Minor

Linda Wall, a conservative independent Virginia candidate for the House of Delegates, admitted on Wednesday that she had an affair with a female student as a junior high gym teacher in the early 1970s, but said she has changed.

"I've never tried to hide that I was in homosexuality," she said in an interview with the AP. "If anybody Googles me, they would find that out there," she said. "Forty years ago I was a different person. I was a heavy pot smoker with ... impaired judgment and made some bad choices," she added. The student was a minor at the time, meaning Wall could still be prosecuted if she comes forward.

In a 2006 deposition as part of a defamation lawsuit former Republican candidate Paul Jost filed against her and state Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr., Wall confirmed that she had sexual relations with a minor. She said resigned her position after the superintendent of the unspecified Prince George County, Va. school confronted her about the allegation.

Wall said that she converted to Christianity, changed her sexual orientation and stopped using drugs. She has lobbied the Virginia legislature on social issues and describes herself as "ex-gay."

Wall isn't the only candidate with ethical issues in the November election centered in Appomattox County, Virginia, following the retirement of independent Del. Watkins Abbitt. Republican candidate Matt Fariss was named in a 2002 emergency protective order against a local woman, and was convicted in separate incidents for holding a concealed weapon and drunk driving. Supporters of Democratic candidate Connie Brennan have publicized reports on Fariss, whose record includes several misdemeanor convictions related to hunting violations and a DUI.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Connie Brennan had a DUI conviction. She does not. The story has been corrected to reflect her supporters publicizing Fariss' convictions.

Below, a slideshow of gay sex scandals that have rocked conservative politics.

Comments

[madmonq]

01:46 PM on 11/14/2011

Shouldn't Republicans be investigating this? How did they let this sex terrorist posing as a Christian into their ranks?

[TFlint]

07:08 PM on 11/02/2011

"i was in homosexuality". ??? Sound like a Palinism.

[AmyCainn]

05:42 PM on 11/01/2011

First of all this woman's affair had naught to do with homosexuality, the correct term is pedophile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she was a Jr. High school gym teacher so we're talkin 13 to 14 yr old . . .a child, if homosexuality caused her pedophilia then heterosexuality causes heterosexual pedophilia and rape so heterosexuality is twice as dangerous and homosexuality because it causes two types of sex crimes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So . . . My point here ??? yeah, pedophilia has not a damn thing to do with homosexuality!!!!!!!! she didn't have a gay affair she molested a child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[artofwar]

05:28 AM on 10/31/2011

I do understand what this woman means. One, she had no business having sex with a minor. When you come to know God though, many people believe that because of a homosexual act they have commited in their life that they cannot be forgiven. I could give direct scriptures, but I will refrain. If this woman has a true heart and has become right with the Lord, she can and will be forgiven for this. I believe it was wrong to engage in any act with a minor, and apparently she knows it was wrong too. She not only openly admitted she was wrong, but also she stated she found God and no longer engages in those activities. You can become clean again in the lords eyes if you really are sincere. She does not need to become clean again in the world's eyes.

[EmmaDarian]

08:32 AM on 10/31/2011

She admitted she did it AFTER it was made public and had to admit it because there was proof. Then she called the sexual abuse of a minor a "youthful mistake" and "skeleton in the closet" like everyone has and blamed it on others, including her liberal college professors (once again trying to score points off the harm she caused a child).

I don't care about her professed faith. I care about her sexual abuse of a minor and her subsequent handling of being outed for that crime, which has been anything but admirable.

[artofwar]

12:42 PM on 10/31/2011

I do not know enough about the details. I guess it will be up to the person that she did this to, to come forward. The skeleton must have been about to fall out of the closet anyhow for her to talk about it. A sexual crime with a minor is even worse when you factor in that she was a "teacher", and a authorative (so to speak) person at the school.

[Despyria]

01:54 AM on 10/31/2011

Hey, but she prayed the gay away... that works right? Worked with Ted Haggard right? He prayed away the need to do blow off the naked backsides of gay prostitutes and at least one "youth" parishioner. Now he is anti-gay and anti-drug. Ministering to the junkie pros now I hear. But they prayed the gay away in a couple weeks. Neither Fox nor Hen-house are terms that come to mind.

They have insight and a more powerful faith so we can take their word for it, they know "the way".

[GustavoRejivik]

01:33 AM on 10/31/2011

I thought Progressives were for elavating Gays into society...??
I thought Progressives were for Gay Rights??

This just seems like an attack on a Gay Woman, an attack on Conservatives.

[TFlint]

07:09 PM on 11/02/2011

Pedophilia is a crime!

[GustavoRejivik]

01:30 AM on 10/31/2011

Cain = Allegations from 92'
Wall = affair in 1970 ...

Honestly I don't really care about either .. since the Progressive Media failed to tell us anything about Obama .. other than a broad outline .. these seem like ideological attacks on Conservatives in the Propaganda Wars...

[persuter]

02:06 AM on 10/31/2011

Yeah, they didn't tell us about all the allegations of sexual harassment which Obama paid big bucks to settle...

Oh wait, that's because there weren't any.

[whitewolf]

01:03 AM on 11/13/2011

So when the coach from Penn St was playing with boys in the shower, he gets charged with a crime. Because it is a crime.

How is this coach any different for having relations with a minor whom she coached?

This isn't about gay rights. It's about a sexual crime against a minor. Surely you're not so dense that you can't see that.

[William J Unverferth Sr]

11:17 AM on 11/14/2011

"How is this coach any different..." Statute of limitations.

[StrawHat]

12:50 AM on 10/31/2011

The child was in middle school. This isn't about gay or lesbian.

This is child abuse.

[EmmaDarian]

08:36 AM on 10/31/2011

An adult teacher had sex with one of her junior high school students, which is rape. I have the same problem with that that I would have if a either party were of a different gender. It's not about the genders; it's about the crime of statutory rape.

If you can't say that's wrong and can only shoot the messengers, I pity you.

Plus, Wall only "confessed" when she had to, after the crime was made public. She then downplayed the sexual abuse of a minor by calling it a "youthful mistake" and a skeleton in her closet, like everyone has and berated those who exposed her. Oh, and she blamed her liberal college professors, in an effort to score political points off the harm she caused. Kind of like what you're doing.

There are no lies in that comment and there have been no lies from "LGBT folks" in this story.

[wordsalad12]

11:26 PM on 10/30/2011

she can say whatever she wants now, freely, under oath, or not, because she is beyond the statute of limitations, and apparently God forgives all crimes if you hide behind your supposed devoutness and religous "re-birth" (because that is exactly what she is doing). This is not a Christian person, esp. since she turns around and labels the LGBT community as sinful and worthy of scorn from the right wingnuts such as herself. This is hypocrisy and cowardice in its purest form. This is a dangerous path she is on.

[mccglf]

01:04 AM on 10/31/2011

Statute of limitations on this is what in Virginia? Over 40 years?

[mccglf]

01:07 AM on 10/31/2011

If she can be charged, she will be. The victim would have to agree.

[gra8whit]

09:42 PM on 10/30/2011

"I was in homosexuality?" I had no idea homosexuality was a place to be. Now, sometimes I daydream about what it would be like to be in Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland.

[upndacity]

08:41 PM on 10/30/2011

When are you going to change the headline from ". . . lesbian affair with" to ". . . molesting" ?????

[virpilosus]

08:07 PM on 10/30/2011

Well, well, well, the only thing left is to canonize this lady! Jeez, let the press take her apart.

[PublicCitizen21044]

04:55 PM on 10/30/2011

Why is she telling this story now? Was she threatened by someone who might leak it to the media? What she did was statutory rape and corruption of the morals of a minor and her new found morality(i.e.,conversion to Xstianity) should be strongl;y urging her to confess to the law,take ownership of what she did and take her medicine like a good reformed sexual deviant. She is acting like a smooth criminal. The Xstian faith is the only one I know that does not take personal responsibility for their salvation. They just take pleasure in the fact that some brother was hung on a tree/cross and became enlightened after death for their salvation and all they have to do is pray to him for forgiveness. What a lazy religious cult!

[skittle]

07:56 PM on 10/30/2011

She was under oath. Maybe she felt compelled to tell the truth. Kind of a startling thought in the realm of politics.

[Trisha Lynn Dragon]

11:26 PM on 10/30/2011

Doubtful. Why THIS time? Why NOW?

[aviandonn]

12:24 AM on 10/31/2011

She was sued a few years back for defamation by a political opponent, Paul Jost and confessed during the deposition. Jost gave parts of the deposition with Walls statements do the AP stating that he felt the public ought to know.

[PublicCitizen21044]

08:13 AM on 10/31/2011

Well he should have given it to law officials to be investigated and if their is still time for the crime to be tried she should be brought up on charges. Instead it just looks like a bunch of sour grapes when it was actually a sex crime.

[alfredo1]

04:54 PM on 10/30/2011

Two out of three ain't bad. Although I can't see what good "converting to christianty would do?

[deezworld83]

04:52 PM on 10/30/2011

Ex-gay, ex-drug user, ex-child molester and soon to be ex-candidate!

[StrawHat]

12:51 AM on 10/31/2011

I wish I could X her and her creepy behavior from my mind.