VA Del. Bob Marshall Hopes That A Lie Told Often Enough Will Stop Gay Marriage

Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall, a Republican, warned Tuesday that allowing gay couples to marry would lead to church-run hospitals losing their tax exempt status.

At a press conference at the state Capitol with several African-American church leaders, Marshall criticized U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright-Allen's ruling striking down the state's marriage ban, which she stayed pending an appeal.

Allowing marriage equality would result in “significant alteration, change and radical modification of every aspect of both individual, family and tax law in Virginia,” Marshall warned.

“Every church and every Catholic or Protestant hospital will lose its tax [exempt] status,” Marshall said. “There is no restricting once it happens. This has effects that I can't even contemplate at this time.”

“If people simply think that the so-called same-sex marriage is just a circumstance of whether two people are cohabiting in the same residence, they are profoundly mistaken,” Marshall said.

“If the courts decide that the 14^th Amendment requires same-sex marriage, no church in Virginia will keep its status [and] every charity that's feeding the poor, clothing the poor, funding medical care, repairing houses – all that will be gone,” he added.

Carl Tobias, a constitutional law professor at the University of Richmond, told the Richmond Times Dispatch that he's unaware of any church losing its tax-exempt status over its position on marriage equality.

Last month, Marshall filed a House resolution seeking to impeach Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring over his refusal to defend the state's ban. House Republican leaders have already publicly stated their opposition to impeachment proceedings against Herring.

At Tuesday's conference, Marshall said he would continue to pressure lawmakers to act against Herring.

The absolute vile, repugnance of these fear merchants, just so they can get their voter base riled up against the evil homosexuals and get re-elected.

I don't know which is worse, that these assholes say these things, without being held accountable, or that people believe him.