Virginia state Sen. Richard Black opposed criminalizing spousal rape when the matter was raised in the Virginia Legislature in 2002 because he believes rape is nearly impossible to define when a couple is "living together, sleeping in the same bed, she's in a nightie, there's no injury and so forth or anything."

He also worried that making it a crime to rape your spouse could result in men experiencing "enormous fear" that their reputations would be damaged if their wives ever falsely accused them of rape.

Advertisement:

As Mother Jones' Molly Redden reports, Black has abhorrent views on almost every issue you can name. He has also called emergency contraception "baby pesticide," and introduced the legislation while a member of the state General Assembly to allow Virginians to purchase "Choose Life" license plates in order to fund crisis pregnancy centers. As Redden notes, these license plates have raised $223,000 for these anti-choice counseling centers (that regularly lie to women about their reproductive healthcare options) since first being introduced in 2009. He also appears to be a fan of George Zimmerman.

Black is currently running to replace Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf, a Republican moderate who is retiring.

He has yet to comment on his remarks about marital rape.