Tuesday, October 01, 2002

This Signorile column is important both for what it says about judicial nominee McDonnell and its implicit indictment of the liberal media:


But much less has been noted about McConnell’s vociferous antigay record. McConnell wrote a brief filed with the Supreme Court on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America in BSA v. Dale, arguing that it was perfectly reasonable for the Boy Scouts to ban gays as leaders because it was similar to the Scouts’ exclusion of alcohol or substance abuse. Yes, homosexuality, in his mind, is another vice we’ve got to fight against. Speaking at a colloquium on evangelical civic engagement in 2002, McConnell thundered that "the Scouts’ traditional ties with schools, national parks, and the military are in jeopardy. Scout supporters must go on the offensive, to highlight the intolerance of gay-rights activists."

Gee, why didn’t they just nominate Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson?

McConnell’s urge to purge gays is far beyond the realm of the Boy Scouts too. He is against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the relatively tepid and narrow piece of legislation (it exempts religious organizations, for example), cosponsored by even quite a few Republicans in both the House and the Senate, that would prohibit employment discrimination against gays. Don’t expect him to vote to uphold such protections at that inevitable time when religious zealots challenge them in court (if the bill ever gets passed).

"This would be the only civil rights law which is preventing people from hiring or firing on the basis of a moral judgment," said McConnell in an interview on NPR.