Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall, a
Republican, plans to introduce legislation that would ban gay troops
from serving openly in the state's National Guard, The Washington
Times reported.
Reacting
to Congress' decision over the weekend to repeal the Pentagon's gay
ban, known as “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” Marshall said his bill
would bar “active homosexuals” from serving in the Virginia
National Guard.
“With the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't
Tell,' President Obama seeks to pay back his homosexual political
supporters,” Marshall said in a statement. “This policy will
weaken military recruitment and retention, and will increase pressure
for a military draft.”
Marshall insisted the Constitution
grants states the authority to control the National Guard.
“The Constitution never would have
been ratified if states were not [guaranteed] unqualified control of
the militia, now called the National Guard,” he said.
Marshall is considering a 2012 bid to
unseat U.S. Senator Jim Webb, a Democrat who voted for repeal on
Saturday.
Giving an example of General George
Washington discharging a gay soldier who lied under oath, Marshall
argued that “the practice of barring homosexual participation in
the armed forces dates back to the American Revolution.”
The idea, however, has already met with
resistance from Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, who said through a
spokesman that “it is critically important that there be one set of
rules for all our men and women in the military.”