A federal judge ruled Aug. 20 that graduate student Jennifer Keeton does not deserve a preliminary injunction against Augusta State University for requiring her to follow a "remediation plan" to help her learn to separate her religious belief that homosexuality is immoral from her duty as a counselor not to impart her personal feelings to patients.

Georgia politicians resorting to gay-baiting in their campaigns sometimes seems as seasonal as the Dogwood blossom, and after being in full bloom during the Republican primary for governor, anti-gay tactics may not return for this fall’s general election.

“I don’t perceive [gay issues] as being an issue in this race, moving forward,” said Brian Robinson, spokesperson for former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, who won the Aug. 10 Republican runoff after running weeks of television commercials attacking former Secretary of State Karen Handel for supporting gay rights when she ran for Fulton County Commission in 2002 and 2003.

“We were in a very hard-fought campaign [against Handel], and we just, we had to fight,” Robinson told the Georgia Voice. “We were focused on talking to Republican voters in the Republican primary, and we were focused on communicating a message that Nathan Deal is the true conservative, and he has been unwavering in his principles.”