The people of Virginia have spoken by a margin of 57-43. They’ve already enshrined in the Virginia Constitution that gay marriage is not permitted, so unless there is another effort to change the Constitution, that matter is settled. That is the law of the land and, look, reasonable people can disagree on these things. That’s what the law is now. That’s something that I support. That was the right decision.
Statement from McDonnell at a press conference, referencing a referendum on 5 May 2011 wherein Virginia voters approved a proposed amendment to the Virginia constitution to ban same-sex marriage; the amendment was made unconstitutional in the ruling of Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. As quoted by Anita Kumar, "McDonnell: Gay marriage ban was “the right decision”"