Facing questions about LGBTQ+ views, Avula releases ad featuring gay daughter

Richmond mayoral candidate Danny Avula released a campaign ad spotlighting his family’s decision to welcome in a young woman in 2019 who says she needed a “safe place” after others in her life discovered she was gay.

The ad features Arjanaé, a woman whom Avula describes as his daughter but who was not formally adopted because she joined the Avula family when she was 19 and no longer a minor, according to Avula’s campaign.

Arjanaé, who calls Avula her dad in the ad, describes being raised in public housing, meeting the Avulas and spending time at their house because they lived nearby in Richmond’s East End. That relationship turned into something more, she says in the ad, when “people found out that I’m gay.”

“So I went to Dr. Danny’s, and I never left,” she says in the ad. “That’s how I chose the Avulas, and they became my family. I’m talking about this, because my dad’s whole life is making sure that no one gets left behind.”

In a news release Monday, the Avula campaign said the ad will run on broadcast television and digital platforms.

Avula, a doctor and longtime public health official who lives in Church Hill and is making his first run for public office, has been under scrutiny for his views on LGBTQ+ rights.

Some of it stems from his affiliation with a local church, Third Church, that doesn’t support same-sex marriage.

At a candidate forum last week, Avula and others running for mayor were asked to describe what the religious institutions they attend believe about gay rights.

Avula said he was glad to elaborate on an issue that’s “gotten a lot of run on social media recently.” He said he doesn’t share “many” of the values expressed by the church, which he noted his wife attended before they were married.

“But what I do share is a love of God, and a belief that everybody is created in God’s image,” he said. “And that is preached week in and week out. And so I’ve maintained my membership as part of this community.”

Avula elaborated on his family’s personal experience in a recent interview with The Richmonder while discussing his views on LGBTQ+ issues and abortion rights.

“Long before Arjanaé was a part of our family, I've been a huge advocate and supporter of the LGBTQ community through my work in public health,” Avula said. “That became a lot more real and deeply felt as a result of being a father to a gay daughter.”

More than a decade ago, Avula discussed his views on marriage and families in an article in the publication Christianity Today that has been recirculating during his run for mayor.

The 2012 article was a look at how local Christians, including former Richmond Health District Director Donald Stern, were working to address the absence of fathers and promote stable, two-parent families.

"If you look at health, education, and poverty indicators, people in stable families with a married mother and father have higher high-school graduation rates and income," Avula said in the article. "It's not only about the theological basis for the design of a man and a woman. When you look at outcomes, it's a no-brainer."

Reflecting on the article now, Avula said he still believes fatherhood is “really important.” But he said he wouldn’t make the same comment again because his thinking has changed over the course of his life. 

“There is absolutely room and evidence of an evolution on a lot of these issues,” he said.

Avula, who led Virginia’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts during the pandemic, is competing against four other mayoral candidates this year.