Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Religious right continue to slander judge for DOMA decision

It seems that so-called traditional values groups are highly selective when it comes to which parts of the Bible they follow.

While they thunder from the mountains about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, by their words against U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White (the judge who recently declared the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional), these groups seem to ignore the verse prohibiting bearing false witness against one's neighbor.

I've already mentioned how the Family Research Council called White a "San Francisco judge," thereby making a sly implication about his sexual orientation.

Mat Staver and our favorite homophobe, "Porno Pete" LaBarbera accused White of "helping Obama sabotage marriage."

Now Randy Thomasson of SaveCalifornia is getting into the act:

"Judge White is out of order. He is unconstitutional by ruling DOMA unconstitutional," Thomasson contends.

Of course not one of these folks will talk about the following:

White was confirmed to the federal bench by a voice vote in the Senate after being nominated by President George W. Bush in 2002. He’s the only judge confirmed to California federal courts during Bush’s two terms. After being nominated, White was approved by a bipartisan judicial selection committee and received praise from Democrats and Republicans alike. 

Nor will they even comment on the evidence used to defend DOMA:

White’s decision is remarkable for the extent to which it debunked the evidence presented by (Paul) Clement (the lawyer hired to defend DOMA by the Republicans in the House of Representatives) in opposition to same-sex marriage. Long before the decision was released, Clement’s defense was plagued with accusations of distorting research, avoiding cross-examination, and relying on widely discredited junk science. White’s ruling further demonstrated the lack of credible evidence presented in opposition to marriage equality.
Notably, he rejected the claim that same-sex couples were unfit to raise their own children, declaring:
More than thirty years of scholarship resulting in over fifty peer-reviewed empirical reports have overwhelmingly demonstrated that children raised by same-sex parents are as likely to be emotionally healthy, and educationally and socially successful as those raised by opposite-sex parents.
White went on to criticize the evidence Clement provided on same-sex parenting, criticizing his sources as “questionable,” “non-scientific,” and “without peer review.” 

These facts don't matter as long as these supposed Christian groups gain points by slandering Judge White.

And apparently these attacks are working.  Republican lawmakers will be appealing Judge White's decision.

Good luck on that, guys.


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