What’s that famous quote by William Shakespeare? Umm…oh yes. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” That’s the one. It fits the following scenario perfectly.
Un–frigging—believable. We wake up this morning and check our email which revealed to us a slew of posts across the LGBT blogosphere with these ridiculous headlines about how it doesn’t matter that Prop 8 trial judge Vaughn Walker is gay. Are these people on drugs? Of course it matters!
If it didn’t matter then why the hell is the LGBT blogging community tripping over each other to write a post about Judge Walker being outed by the San Francisco Chronicle this weekend—–then only to breathlessly follow that up with the disclaimer in the title of their posts—–But, well, you know, it doesn’t matter. BULLSHIT. And these jive bloggers know it. Oh hell to the yes—- it most certainly does matters.
Ask the defenses lead counsel Andrew Pugno on the down-low. He’ll be more than willing to tell you just how much it matters.
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Very interesting….the developments from the Prop 8 trial never cease to amaze. Based on this last piece of news there will be more to come no doubt. Today the San Francisco Chronicle reveals that Prop 8 trial Judge Vaughn Walker is himself, gay. We’re not even gonna bore you with our thoughts on the matter. We’ll just turn you on to the source. Although we will say this much: if Judge Vaughn Walker’s sexuality was a non-issue in terms of the Prop 8 case, why wasn’t it revealed before now?
Read the following:
Judge being gay a nonissue during Prop. 8 trial
The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself gay.
Many gay politicians in San Francisco and lawyers who have had dealings with Walker say the 65-year-old jurist, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never taken pains to disguise – or advertise – his orientation.
They also don’t believe it will influence how he rules on the case he’s now hearing – whether Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure approved by state voters to ban same-sex marriage, unconstitutionally discriminates against gays and lesbians.
“There is nothing about Walker as a judge to indicate that his sexual orientation, other than being an interesting factor, will in any way bias his view,” said Kate Kendell, head of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is supporting the lawsuit to overturn Prop. 8.
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We were in the midst of writing our second installment of Courage Campaign One Year Later And Why Rick Jacobs Needs Jesus when we came across this article (you’ll get the Courage piece on Weds—this other issue is far too important to postpone).
It concerns the recent news item about the withdrawal of reappointment of Lorenzo Hoopes to the Paramount Theatre of the Arts Board in Oakland. Hoopes, a 96-year old man and longtime board member of the Paramount Theatre, donated $26,000 to the Yes On 8 campaign. Gay activists went after Hoopes calling him a bigot and demanding he not be reinstated. As a result Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums withdrew the elderly arts patron from reappointment to the the Paramount Theatre board.
But it doesn’t stop there. When pro-gay marriage journalists such as Oakland Tribune columnist Tammerlin Drummund voiced disagreement via their columns with Mayor Dellums’ decision, the gay activists turned their wrath on these equality supporting scribes—sending them emails filled with gay pornography and threats. Here’s our take on that:
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Gotta love the guy’s chutzpah. The lead counsel for the Prop 8 defense Andrew Pugno just doesn’t seem to get that being treated as less than or being viewed by society as some sort of freak somehow can actually impact a person’s self-worth. In his latest entry on the Protect Marriage blog he compares what he obviously views as the ridiculous notion of gay social stress and outcastdom as similar to special class considerations and imaginary demands of stutterers and exceptionally tall people.
Andrew really? Oh really?
It blows our mind the level of insensitivity and lack of empathy others display when not having had to walk in someone else’s shoes. Of course it would be hard to showcase the prism of emotions one carries throughout their daily lives when a majority of one’s society has determined that you are not worthy of the same privileges as they. That’s just not something you can act out in an impromptu game of charades. It either takes having the experience yourself to know the feeling or the simple act of compassion and the willingness to understand another human beings challenges when it it is so very clear that their path is very different than your own.
You’d think a college educated and intelligent man like Pugno could easily grasp that. But there’s almost this stubborn and unforgiving refusal to acknowledge that Prop 8 hurt people—-period. As though to do so would be a treason of sorts. To simply acknowledge that it hurt other human beings. Even if to just put the sexual identity aspect and constitutionality of it aside and just acknowledge that it hurt somebody. Is that too much to ask?
Here’s Pugno’s summation of the Prop 8 trial, day 4
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What’s that famous quote by William Shakespeare? Umm…oh yes. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” That’s the one. It fits the following scenario perfectly.
