Rachel Maddow is Astonished by Virginia's Sodomy-Obsessed GOP Gubernatorial Ticket: VIDEO

Rachel Maddow takes a look at the sodomy-obsessed, anti-gay, socially conservative Republican gubernatorial ticket of Ken Cuccinelli and EW Jackson in Virginia. Also on the Virginia GOP's obsession list: voodoo and Satanism.

"This really is what the Republican Party is like right now...Virginia will be the first statewide election we've had since the presidential election and THIS is who the Republican party has put together as their best face in that state. And it's not just Virginia..."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

GOP Nominates Anti-Gay Pastor E.W. Jackson for Lieutenant Governor in Virginia

Anti-gay Pastor E.W. Jackson joined Ken Cuccinelli and Attorney General nominee Mark Obenshain on the Virginia Republican ticket over the weekend.

Jackson told the Washington Post that he has never been hateful about homosexuality:

“I think people always try to put that in the context of being hateful and it’s not,” he said. “It’s a particular worldview that every Christian for the most part who goes to church across this commonwealth shares: that marriage should be between one man and one woman. And anything else is an attempt to redefine an institution that really can’t be redefined. But I also like to let gay folks know that that same religious faith requires that you care about everybody, regardless. . . . It’s about religious principles, but never, ever about hatred or bigotry.”

Jackson has linked homosexuality and pedophilia: "I know their people say, well, it’s unfair to associate homosexuality with pedophilia or some of these other previsions. But I believe that there is a direction connection because what they really want is absolute sexual freedom."

Jackson has said gays are psychologically sick: "Their minds are perverted, they’re frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally and they see everything through the lens of homosexuality. When they talk about love they’re not talking about love, they’re talking about homosexual sex. So they can’t see clearly."

He commented on the Democrats' embrace of marriage equality this way:

Later this month when Democrats make same-sex marriage part of their official Party Platform, the former practicing attorney says they will be spitting in the face of every Bible-believing Christian in America: “They will be saying, 'We don't care what you think, what you believe, or what the Bible or the God of the Bible says. We know better than God.'”

And he has said pro-gay rights liberals “have done more to kill black folks whom they claim so much to love than the Ku Klux Klan, lynching and slavery and Jim Crow ever did.”

In Sharp Shift, 56 Percent of Virginia Voters Support Gay Marriage

56 percent of Virginia voters support same-sex marriage, the Washington Post reports, up from 46 percent just two years ago.

Jon Stewart Inspects Homophobe Ken Cuccinelli's (Failed) Attempt to Retain Virginia's Sodomy Law: VIDEO

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli asked the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a lower court's decision which overturned the state's sodomy law.

He lost, the Washington Blade reports:

In an action that surprised some court observers, the order says none of the court’s judges requested a poll among themselves to determine which, if any of them, favored Cuccinelli’s request for an en banc rehearing of the sodomy case by the court’s 15 active judges and one senior judge.

Among the judges that chose not to approve a rehearing was Judge Albert Diaz, who wrote the dissent in the three-judge panel’s 2-1 ruling declaring Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” statute unconstitutional. The statute classifies sodomy between consenting adults, gay or straight, as a crime.

“It’s a pretty resounding rejection,” said Claire Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, which filed a friend of the court brief urging the three-judge panel to overturn the state sodomy law. “There really wasn’t any interest in doing this at all by anybody.”

Cuccinelli could petition the Supreme Court but hasn't indicated if he will do so. In any case, the whole brouhaha gave Jon Stewart to give Cuccinelli a sound drubbing on Tuesday night.

Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Terry McAuliffe Reiterates Marriage Equality Support at Equality Dinner

Virginia gubernatorial candidate and former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe told attendees at an Equality Virginia dinner on Saturday that he supports marriage equality but would not prioritize repealing the 2006 consittutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in the state and instead focus on the economy, the Times Dispatch reports:

“We just went through this process here seven years ago; it’s in the constitution,” McAuliffe said in an interview at the 10th annual Commonwealth Dinner hosted by Equality Virginia, one of the state’s advocacy groups for gay rights, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.

However, McAuliffe said he would not tolerate any form of discrimination in the commonwealth. “We’ve got to make sure that Virginia is open and welcoming to everybody,” McAuliffe said.

McAuliffe said he made the decision to back same-sex marriage in February after discussing the issue with his wife. “A lot of the debate around ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ really enlightened me,” he said.

The Washington Blade adds:

He also sought to differentiate himself from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli who last week asked the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond to review a three-judge panel’s decision in March that struck down Virginia’s sodomy law.

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) Comes Out for Marriage Equality

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) came out for marriage equality late this afternoon in a post on Facebook:

I support marriage equality because it is the fair and right thing to do. Like many Virginians and Americans, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and this is the inevitable extension of my efforts to promote equality and opportunity for everyone. I was proud to be the first Virginia governor to extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT state workers. In 2010, I supported an end to the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, and earlier this month I signed an amicus brief urging the repeal of DOMA. I believe we should continue working to expand equal rights and opportunities for all Americans.

Warner is the second Democratic senator in two days to suddenly evolve on marriage equality on the eve of two Supreme Court cases considering the issue.

Last night, Missouri senator Claire McCaskill said she, too, had evolved.