A former Athens police detective said Wednesday he believes his sexual orientation is the reason a Limestone County Republican committee rejected his request to run for sheriff on the GOP ticket this year.

“I think it is obvious,” said Jason White, the 40-year-old former officer who served 22 years in law enforcement and co-owns Riley Security Co. in Huntsville. 

(See WAFF-48’s interview with White here.)

White had already once ran for Limestone County sheriff as a Republican. In 2002, he ran for Limestone County sheriff but lost in the primary. White said all he had to do to qualify in 2002 was fill out his qualifying papers and pay his qualifying fee.

White, who had been married to a woman, said he did not openly admit he was homosexual until about a year after the 2002 election.

In 2014, White married the first openly gay Navy seal, Brett Jones, in Indiana. The couple, who live in Limestone County, has a teenage son. A story about the family was published in the Los Angeles Times in May 2015. Jones has published a book about coming out and later leaving the Seals.

The vote

About two-thirds of the Limestone County Republican Executive Committee, which oversees the party, voted Tuesday to deny White’s request to run as a Republican.

White said before the vote, the committee questioned him. He said he was asked whether he voted for Donald Trump for president.

“I said, ‘No, I voted for Gary Johnson (the Libertarian candidate),’” White told The News Courier. “You’d think I had stabbed them.”

White was asked to leave the room, and the members discussed the matter for more than two hours before casting their votes. White was not allowed to sit in on the discussion and vote.

Noah Wahl, chairman of the LCREC, called White shortly after 10 p.m. to break the news.

He said Wahl told him he did not know the precise breakdown of the vote but that roughly two-thirds of the 34-member LCREC voted against granting him ballot access.

Wahl declined Wednesday to comment on the reason for denying White ballot access. Wahl said he had promised White he would wait for him to make a statement before responding. White confirmed this.

Wahl had said earlier, during the public portion of the meeting, that depending on the outcome of the vote, White could appeal the decision to the state Republican Party or run as an independent candidate.

Singled out?

The LCREC recently created a candidate questionnaire to evaluate candidates on where they stand on the issues, according to Wahl. It asked standard questions, including why a candidate wanted to run for office.

The questionnaire also asked if candidates had ever voted for a Democrat, if they believed “in the traditional definition of marriage” and if they were “committed to protecting life at all ages.”

White said he filled out the questionnaire, and he was not the only candidate to do so. Athens City Councilman Joseph Cannon, a city officeholder seeking the Limestone County license commissioner office this year, said he also filled it out. Candidates already on the LCREC did not have to fill it out.

However, White believes the interview he was called to with the LCREC steering committee was atypical.

About two weeks before Tuesday’s vote, White said a LCREC steering committee of about 10 to 12 members asked him in for an interview. In the interview, they asked him to name two weaknesses he had as a candidate.

“I said the fact I was fired and that I’m gay,” White said, noting the committee then talked at length about his orientation.

White said they said things like, “We don’t think we’d be able to raise any money for you,” and “We’re a small southern town; how are we going to get around that?”

According to White, the steering committee then spent more time talking about the fact he said he was gay and less time talking about him being fired.

White, a decorated officer, was fired from Athens Police Department in 2012 after allegations that he used the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center to look up information connected to his ex-wife.

White later sued the city, claiming he was fired after reporting corruption within the department to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, which prompted an investigation. His case was recently dismissed.

What next?

White said he may run as an independent.

“I’m disappointed, but I’m not deterred,” he said.

When asked how he reconciles wanting to be a member of a party that does not want him to be a member, White said, “I have been a Republican since I was 18. I am a business owner, and I like that they want to keep their hands off business. Also, I am a financial conservative. They are all the things I believe in.”

Still, he does see a change in the party he’s never seen before.

“It is not the party I remember,” he said. “The party today wants to be a theocracy. I was hoping more people like me could try to change it. I respect other people’s religious beliefs, but I think there is a reason they should remain separate from government — because people have different religions.”

With White banned from the GOP ballot, there is no Republican candidate for sheriff, though prospective candidates have until Feb. 9 to file qualifying papers.