Yesterday, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell — who recently issued an Executive Directive 1 stating that discrimination “based on factors such as one’s sexual orientation or parental status” will not be tolerated — said that gays and lesbians do not need protections against workplace discrimination because “there isn’t really any rampant discrimination on any basis in Virginia.” The state discriminates only “based on merit and ability and getting results” in hiring decisions, McDonnell told WRVA’s Ask the Governor program, adding that he would probably not sign a law that included protections for gays and lesbians:

MCDONNELL: First of all, I don’t know if we need it. Based on the numbers I’ve seen, there isn’t really any rampant discrimination on any basis in Virginia…the question is, is that really need? As I said, this is going to be an administration, like previous administrations that isn’t going to discriminate. So, if you’re going to have a law, it needs to actually address a real problem and you know, I would have to look at that when it gets to me.

Listen:

McDonnell’s categorical denial of discrimination in state hiring practices would surprise some in his very own government. On March 31st, the Supreme Court of Virginia will hold oral arguments on the case of Michael Moore v. Virginia Museum of Natural History, in which Moore is claiming that he was fired from his job at the museum for being gay.

Over at the Bilerico Project, Moore’s attorney Michael Hamar writes, “It is hard to tell what the Virginia Supreme Court will rule in the matter. If the Court adopts the Attorney General’s arguments in the case, it will confirm that McDonnell’s Executive Directive 1 (2010) is a meaningless political stunt. If the Court accepts the arguments in the briefs submitted on behalf of Moore, employment discrimination – at least when involving state agencies and departments – based upon sexual orientation/religious belief will be struck down as illegal under the U.S. Constitution.”

Yesterday, as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued more lenient guidelines for enforcing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, General James Conway — Commandant of the U. S. Marine Corps — reiterated his opposition to repealing the policy and told Military.com he will insist that the Marines have the option of not living alongside gay servicemembers:

CONWAY: We just think that our corps will not want to see it changed. If it is changed, it’s going to require some leadership, engaging, to ensure our order are carried out. It’s going to require some resources. Because right now we billet by twos. We’re the only service that billets by twos. We like that, we want to continue doing that. But I would not ask our Marines to live with someone who is homosexual, if we could possibly avoid it. And to me, it means we have to build BEQs [Bachelor/Base Enlisted Quarters] that have single rooms.

QUESTION: Why not, why wouldn’t you let them live with someone who’s homosexual?

CONWAY: Well, ah. I think, I think, one I would, in this case, want to preserve the right of a Marine who thinks he or she wouldn’t want to do that. Okay? And again, that’s the overwhelming number of people that say they wouldn’t like to do so.

Listen:

Marines are forced to do and live in a whole host of disagreeable conditions and it’s unclear why Conway wants to preserve Marine choice “in this case,” particularly since “men and women of all races, religions, and values train together, sleep in extremely close quarters, and eat in the same mess halls without detriment to unit cohesion or military effectiveness.” Living with a gay servicemember, however, is apparently so insidious that Conway must carve out a special exemption for those Marines who “wouldn’t want to do that.”

Should his request be granted, the United States will become the only nation (of the 25 that have dropped the ban) that segregates its servicemembers on the basis of sexual orientation. As Larry Korb argues in this new report, “the militaries of Great Britain, Canada, and Israel amply demonstrate that lifting the ban on openly gay service will not require the U.S. military to provide separate housing, shower, or other common-use facilities for gay and lesbian service members.” In fact, even General Carl Mundy, commandant of the Marine Corps from 1991 to 1995 and an opponent of a repeal, has predicted that segregating the forces “would be absolutely disastrous in the armed forces. …It would destroy any sense of cohesion or teamwork or good order and discipline.”