UPDATED: Check out this Wikipedia article that reflects that Judge Ware has some considerable dirty linen of his own.*
People wonder at times why LGBT individuals - particularly teens - finally surrender to suicidal impulses as the only means to escape the daily assaults on ones dignity and humanity. Well, Judge James Ware (pictured at left), who succeeded Vaughn Walker as the Chief Judge of the U.S, District Court for the Northern District of California, today underscored precisely why some of us just take our own lives and say "no more." While no one would dare alleging in federal court that one's race, religion, ancestry or heterosexual marriage status would render one incapable of performing one's judicial duties, with LGBT individuals we are ALWAYS treated to a different and discriminatory standard. Rather than dismiss the latest ploy of the Prop 8 proponents out of hand, Judge Ware is apparently buying directly into their religious based bigotry and efforts to incessantly stigmatize LGBT Americans. What adds insult to injury, Ware is African American and ought to be opposed to buying into bigotry. Frankly, it makes me sick. and I hope that Ware is challenged on some of his own rulings because of his race. Here are highlights from Fire Dog Lake, one of many media outlets looking at Ware's apparent surrender to bigotry.
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Judge James Ware, . . . . Chief Judge of the U.S, District Court for the Northern District of California, has called for briefs and scheduled a hearing on the motion by Prop 8 Defendant-Intervenors to vacate Judge Walker’s ruling on the grounds that he is 1) a homosexual and 2) in a long-term relationship and therefore 3) his ruling that invalidated Proposition 8 could directly benefit himself.
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Now, for a moment, simply imagine a federal judge entertaining a motion from a defendant that an African-American judge couldn’t impartially decide a school desegregation case because he lives in the affected district. Imagine a federal judge entertaining a motion to disqualify a colleague from a case about the legality of selling birth control devices because the judge lived in the affected jurisdiction and is married to a fertile woman. Imagine a judge being asked to vacate the judgment of another judge who ruled on that state’s process for about distributing and evaluating marital assets because that judge happened to be in the midst of a divorce from her husband.
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This is rank bigotry on the part of Judge Ware, and can only be justified by the federal court system’s consideration of gay people as second-class citizens. It is shameless prejudice. No heterosexual judge would be held to any similar standard regarding her own long-term, committed relationship. No plaintiff would dare question the bona fides of a straight judge. Gays are second-class in federal court and in America; Judge James Ware just proved the entire point of Perry.
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And no chief judge would consider such a motion about a heterosexual judge, nor would he grant a hearing and request briefs on the topic. It is absurd on its face and should be rejected by the federal court system. Judge Ware should be sanctioned for allowing such rank bigotry a place in his courtroom.
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He should certainly remove himself from any further deliberations regarding the Perry case, as he’s shown himself to hold bigotry in high enough esteem to hear its arguments about a colleague. It’s shameful and it shouldn’t be tolerated.
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I cannot help but wonder how Ware would receive a motion filed by religious bigots who believe the Bible justifies the separation of the races who are unhappy with the ruling of a black judge. Would he schedule a hearing and request briefs? Somehow I think not. There truly is no difference between that situation and the Christianist attack on Judge Walker. Once again I find myself longing for a day when Christianity - at least as practiced by the Christianists - is a dead religion..
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