Virginia Lawmaker Says Gay People, Not Terrorists, are the Real Threats for American Troops

What a wonderful moment we just had in this country over the weekend. Ending more than 17 years of institutionalized discrimination in the U.S. military, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly (and in bipartisan fashion) voted to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the law that kept openly gay recruits from joining the U.S. military, and discharged soldiers who were found to be gay.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, celebrated the moment by saying that ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would make our military stronger. President Obama called the moment historic. Even Republican politicians like Sen. Susan Collins said repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was an epic end to discrimination.

So what did Virginia lawmaker Bob Marshall have to say about the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"?

"If I needed a blood transfusion, and the guy that's gonna give me the transfusion has committed sodomy 14 times in the last month, yeah I'm gonna be worried," said Marshall.

That's why Marshall is planning to waste Virginia's time and resources introduce legislation that would bar gay soldiers from serving in the Virginia National Guard. For Marshall, though the federal government may be moving toward opening the U.S. military up to gay servicemembers, that doesn't mean he has to sit idly by and let equality thrive.

"It's a distraction when I'm on the battlefield and have to concentrate on the enemy 600 yards away and I'm worried about this guy who's got eyes on me," Marshall said last night on television channel WUSA. For Marshall, it's not terrorists who are the real enemies of American troops. It's the gay colleagues they might end up having, when "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is officially off the books.

As Mindy Townsend wrote yesterday, Marshall's plan falls somewhere between ludicrous and downright crazy. For starters, Marshall's position on this issue flies in the face of nearly 80 percent of Americans, who are pleased as punch to see "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" headed toward extinction. But beyond that, lawyers and advocates believe that Marshall is legally out of bounds with his call to bar gay servicemembers from the Virginia National Guard. There's no rationale to suggest that a state could enact discriminatory regulations on military service separate from the federal government.

So the long and short of it is that Marshall is wasting a boatload of everyone's time. He's wasting the time of lawmakers, who ought to be focused on improving Virginia's economy and dealing with problems in the state. And he's wasting taxpayer money by insisting on introducing this measure, even though it's legally dubious and about as popular as Mel Gibson after a few drinks.

Send the state a message that taking time to let Bob Marshall wax on about sodomy and blood transfusions is silly and wasteful. The Virginia legislature has more important things to deal with, other than this Delegate's glaring insecurity about the issue of homosexuality, which is on full display in the video from WUSA below.

Photo credit: WUSA video