The in my view mentally disturbed Del. Bob Marshall seems Hell bent to continue to destroy Virginia's image on a world wide basis through his raging homophobia and evident belief that his beliefs trump the United States Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The man is in my opinion a psychopath when it comes to his never ending hatred towards gay Virginians. As if Virginia hasn't received enough negative coverage on virtually a worldwide basis, "Slide show Bob" as he's known in Richmond went on CNN and blathered about "sodomy" not being a civil right. In Marshall's disturbed mind, the ruling in Lawrence v. Texas never happened and the Constitution's guaranty of freedom of religion - including freedom from having to subscribed to Marshall's warped religious fantasy land - doesn't exist. One has to wonder when his district is going to wake up and vote his nasty ass out of office. As for those who say "he's charming in person," my response is that Hitler could be charming when he want to be. So what's your point? First, here are excerpts from an MSNBC story where legal experts rip Marshall apart:
Law experts are taking issue with a Virginia legislator’s comment that “sodomy is not a civil right” in explaining why he opposed a gay prosecutor’s bid to become a judge.
Speaking Thursday on CNN’s “Starting Point,” Marshall expounded on his reasoning.
“Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks never took an oath of office that they broke. Sodomy is not a civil right,” he said.
Marshall argued that Thorne-Begland’s past advocacy of gay rights would interfere with his neutrality on the bench, particularly in cases involving homosexuals. “He can be a prosecutor if he wants to, but we don't want advocates as judges," Marshall said.
William Eskridge, a Yale Law School professor and author of “Dishonorable Passions,” a book about the history of sodomy laws in America, rejected the contention that sodomy isn’t a civil right. He pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2003 Lawrence vs. Texas decision, which struck down the criminal sodomy law in Texas – and by extension, other states – as unconstitutional.
“That is something you have a constitutional right to do. Adults have that right without being subject to criminal punishment,” agreed Kim Forde-Mazrui, a University of Virginia School of Law professor. Mazrui also took issue with Marshall’s suggestion that Thorne-Begland’s sexual orientation could hamper his impartiality as a judge.
“If you mean that people are always biased in favor of members of their own group then that would suggest that a straight male or a white judge could not be impartial in a case involving a crime between a straight and a gay person, a man and woman, or a white and black person -- which would render most judges and juries suspect by his conception,” Mazrui said.
“I think that kind of categorical presumption is misguided and there’s no support for that,” added Theodore Ruger, a law professor the University of Pennsylvania. “Many judges -- most famously judges like Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- were well-known advocates before taking the bench and they went on to distinguished careers.”
A column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch - one of the most conservative larger newspapers in Virgina - likewise slams Marshall and calls him the equivalent of George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door. The piece also speculates that the Thorne-Begland crucifixion in the House of Delegates may be a turning point where Virginians begin to wake up to the rampant anti-gay bigotry in Virginia. Here are highlights:
When a man of unimpeachable qualifications is denied a job because he is gay, we have reached a tipping point beyond what reasonable people should stomach.
The House of Delegates' rejection of a judgeship for Richmond prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland carries a stench of bigotry that will shame Virginia beyond this year's legislative session.
This homophobic snub by conservative Republicans — which caught the attention of the national media and the White House — is too brazen to ignore.
"People can empathize and feel personal attacks, and that's what this issue feels like," said Kent Willis, who will retire next month after 23 years as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. "This may bring a lot of people who haven't really thought of this issue so much to the side of gay and lesbian rights."
Del. Bob Marshall, a Republican from Prince William, appears content to be the George Wallace of gay and lesbian rights, a defiant symbol standing at the bedroom door. "Sodomy is not a civil right," he pronounced Thursday, burnishing his reputation as an advocate of government intrusion at its most obscene.
Again, Virginia came down on the wrong side of equality and history. How much longer can we be wrong?
As I have noted before, the Virginia GOP wants to turn Virginia into a version of Alabama or Mississippi where bigotry is rampant and a place that progressive and innovative businesses avoid.
No comments:
Post a Comment