John McCain Promises to Re-criminalize Homosexuality
By Alex Blaze
Cross-posted at Bilerico
This deserves its own post separate from the one I wrote on Rick Warren’s presidential forum earlier. No, he doesn’t say that in so many words, but that’s exactly what would happen:
Neither candidate shied away from a question about which current Supreme Court justice they would not have nominated.
Obama’s reply: Clarence Thomas.
“I don’t think he was a strong enough jurist or a legal thinker at the time for that. I profoundly disagree with his interpretation” of the Constitution, he said.
McCain said he would have never nominated Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens.
“This nomination should be based on the criteria on a proven record of strictly adhering to the Constitution and not legislating from the bench,” McCain added.
Those are the exact people sitting on the bench, minus Kennedy, who voted in favor of the Lawrence v. Texas decision that banned sodomy laws. He pretty much said that he wants to recriminalize homosexuality.
There isn’t much better code to speak in here. The very fundies that he was speaking to at that forum were exactly the people who thought that Lawrence, along with Roe and Griswold, was an extreme case of judicial activism:
In 2003, in Lawrence v. Texas, the court threw out all bans on sex acts between homosexuals, saying, according to Barron, “The right to privacy also included the right for same-sex couples to engage in same-sex sexual acts.”
And later in 2003, when Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, it cited Lawrence v. Texas as justification.
Sekulow sees these rights expounded in Goodridge and Lawrence going straight back to Griswold.
“If you see a decision out of the Supreme Court that says same-sex marriage is required — if that were to happen, I think they will find it primarily…originally…in Griswold, and bring it forward,” Sekulow observed.
While it seems like the media doesn’t really want to catch this goal (gay rights discourse is focused on marriage, and Lawrence seemed like a final decision to almost everyone), but McCain was talking to the exact audience that would want that case overturned, who agree with his reasoning, and he named almost every justice in that majority in his hit list.
Besides, whether he ever talks about wanting to reinstate sodomy laws or not, this is the most effective, direct, and, well, only way for sodomy laws to come back. And he’s made it a central talking point when addressing fundamentalist audiences.
We shouldn’t forget how easy it would be for that case to be overturned and to go back to the days when we were criminals just for loving.
Update: This is also a major flip-flop:
McCain wasn’t a senator when Stevens was nominated, but why did he nevertheless vote to confirm Ginsburg, Breyer, and Souter?
It seems he was for them before he was against them.
Will anyone pick up on this and ask him? Doubtful.
But even if he is flip-flopping here, I see no reason to doubt him. He only cares about killing people and getting money, so it’s unlikely that he was lying here but that he’ll nominate decent human beings to the Supreme Court. He’ll do whatever the Religious Right wants on judicial nominations because he just doesn’t care.
Tags: John McCain, Lawrence v Texas, LGBT rights, Republicans, Rick Warren, Sodomy Laws
August 21st, 2008 at 12:43 am
Hey Alex, I’m an Obama democrat and I’m doing what it takes here to make it a win for Democrats. However, you can’t say in your title that John McCain promised to recriminalize homosexuality. Never happened. Just choosing not to have instated those particular justices affects a lot of liberal decisions that were made—from abortion rights to respecting Guantanamo detainees. We almost always have a 5-4 split somewhere, and McCain chose the most liberal justices.
But saying that he won’t pick liberal justices is a FAR FAR cry from SAYING he would “recriminalize homosexuality” and you do Mr. Obama and LGBT democrats a disservice by using fearmongering to get votes.
Don’t add your spin. Just tell us what Obama is doing for LGBT people and that will help our decisions. There’s no need to demonize McCain–or put words in his mouth. He has plenty of bad statements you could capitalize on and print instead.
August 22nd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Ditto Jerome’s thoughts. Don’t get carried away. We know McCain is bad. Don’t ruin your cred.
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I have to agree with everything that was said already. While all of those justices are liberal, that specific case was likely not the only reason he would not have supported them. There have been other cases that those justices have ruled on that would have not made them the favorites on the flip-flopping Republican favorite list.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
[...] about which current members of the Supreme Court he would not have nominated if he were President, McCain rattled off the names Ginzberg, Breyer, Souter and Stevens. These are the only sitting members of the court who can be counted on to rule on the side of [...]
September 15th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Don’t think for a moment that Lawrence V. Texas would survive a McCain Presidency It wouldnt. The only shiny bauble the wingnut rapture-rights wants almost as much as dancing the grave of Roe v. Wade is to make Gay & Lesbians criminals again. And let’s not kid ourselves, if a McCain Court would be unable to overturn Roe, undoing Lawrence would be a suitable consolation prize for Jimmy “Focus on the Facism & Funding” Dobson.
Sarah Palin’s church is hosting a “Love Won Out” pray-away- the-Gay conference. She sought to bad “Daddy’s Roomate” from her public library. These people are insane they are rabid anti gay browshirts that given the chance will round you up and put you in reparitive therapy camps.
Think I am overstating things? How many of you 8 yrs ago would have thought the US Goverment would torture people or eavesdrop on your cell phone calls?
April 16th, 2011 at 2:09 am
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