Revelation That Prop 8 Judge Is Gay Leads To Criticism From The Far Right
Posted: 8th Feb 2010 Author: Michelle Penny Topics: News
The San Francisco Chronicle yesterday published an article revealing something of an open secret – that Judge Vaughn Walker, the man proceeding over the Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco is himself gay.
Reporting that Walker has never attempt to either disguise or highlight his sexual orientation, there has been a wide range of reactions to the news with some feeling that any positive outcome to the case will lead to criticisms that it was down to Walker having a gay bias, whilst others believing it will have no real impact with Kate Kendall, the lead of the National Centre for Lesbian Rights telling the San Francisco Chronicle that:
“There is nothing about Walker as a judge to indicate that his sexual orientation, other than being an interesting factor, will in any way bias his view,”
Assigned the case randomly, Walker may be gay but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been willing to work for the other side, with the article highlighting many gays in San Francisco were angered by his decision, when working as a private attorney, to present the US Olympic Committee as they attemted to stop the San Francisco’s Gay Olypics from infringing on their name.
The reaction from Proposition 8 supporters has varied from those who have said they would not see the findings as having any kind of bias, whilst others like Ed Whelan writing for the National Review are much more convinced Walker has an alterior motive saying:
Walker’s entire course of conduct has only one sensible explanation: that Walker is hellbent to use the case to advance the cause of same-sex marriage. Given his manifest inability to be impartial, Walker should have recused himself from the beginning, and he remains obligated to do so now
Walker has yet to make any form of statement to the media on the article or the reaction to it.
