If one is a LGBT Virginian, few individuals have done more to harm out lives and relegate us to third class citizenship status that Delegate Bob Marshall. Indeed, the man has a religious mentality not much removed from that of the Taliban - you can believe whatever you want as long as it's what he believes. If one begs to differ, his approach is to try to make your life so miserable that you'll leave the state. Marshall has even admitted that he'd like gays to all move from Virginia. Despite this truly horrid political history and open contempt for religious freedom, the Virginian Pilot is once again giving the equivalent to journalistic fellatio to Marshall in a nauseating piece in today's issue of what has increasingly become a rag of a newspaper aimed more at selling advertising space than legitimate journalism. Indeed, the Pilot in true whore like behavior gushes over Marshall's possible run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jim Webb. Why not do a puff piece on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while the Pilot's at it. Marshall's respect for religious freedom is after all pretty much on a par with Ahmadinejad's. It's disgusting journalism and I suspected by the far right political leanings of members of the Batten family which controls the ownership of the Pilot's parent company. Here are some highlights that show Marshall vile record of intolerance.:*
In a legislature where many politicians carefully calibrate their moves to gain influence, Marshall seems content being out on a limb. When the Obama administration announced it was ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, he fired back with a bill to ban gays from serving openly in the National Guard. It failed. Worried that the Federal Reserve could collapse, he proposed a study to see whether Virginia could mint its own currency. That failed, too - but not before a blogger asked, "Dude, are you serious?"
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Yet three years ago, Marshall came close to winning the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, and he's considering trying for it again next year.
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Marshall's stands are nothing if not controversial, but he doesn't seem to mind the fuss. "Someone has to hit the beach first, to crack the opposition, to make an awareness," Marshall said. Others, he added, can "come and mop up later." There are a couple schools of thought about Marshall: He's a sincere, faith-based crusader shaped by personal tragedy; or he's an egotist with an intolerant streak.
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Marshall is perhaps best known for the push in 2006 to define marriage between a man and a woman in the state constitution, and for filing the lawsuit that led to the undoing of a plan to raise taxes for transportation projects in Hampton Roads and northern Virginia a year later.
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He unflinchingly endured criticism this year over his bill to ban gays from serving in the Virginia National Guard, a move even some Republicans said wasn't possible. When asked his views on gays, Marshall said they are "made in God's image" but disguise that through behavior he called a "disorder desire."
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Marshall and his wife have steeled their children to deal with the inevitable slings they'll encounter. "As a wife, it does hurt me when I see my husband made out to be a kook sometimes when I know he's anything but," Cathy Marshall said. "But that's the price you pay when you stand up for what you believe in."
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Marshall is a toxic menace in Virginia and the sooner he leaves the political scene, the better for all Virginians. As for those who try to sugar coat his nastiness by saying he can be charming in person, I'd remind them that the same was often said about Adolph Hitler. Public actions and hate based policies tell the true tale of what Marshall is really all about and it's a very ugly picture.
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