The Plum Line recently reported that Focus on the Family would not oppose a gay/lesbian Supreme Court nominee:

“We agree with Senator [Jeff] Sessions,” Bruce Hausknecht, a spokesperson for Focus on the Family, which was founded by top religious right figure James Dobson, told me a few minutes ago. “The issue is not their sexual orientation. It’s whether they are a good judge or not.” Their sexual orientation “should never come up,” he continued. “It’s not even pertinent to the equation.”

Wow. That’s almost… reasonable.

That can’t be right, right?

Of course not. Focus on the Family’s Tom Minnery responded to the article with a correction:

“To be honest, this is one of those conversations we’d like to ‘do over.’ We can assure you that we recognize that homosexual behavior is a sin and does not reflect God’s created intent and desire for humanity. Further, we at Focus do affirm that character and moral rectitude should be key considerations in appointing members of the judiciary, especially in the case of the highest court in the land. Sexual behavior -– be it heterosexual or homosexual -– certainly lies at the heart of personal morality.”

To paraphrase:

You know how one of our guys told you we wouldn’t discriminate? *laughter* That was a mistake. We’re total bigots. Gay people have no business being in a position of power. We’ve gone through the sexual behaviors of all the previous Supreme Court nominees and we approve of everything they do in the bedroom. (*wink wink*, Harriet Miers.)

These are the same people who then tell you they “love gay people.” (They love them so much, they go out of their way to make sure LGBT people never have equal rights or protections.)

What’s laughable is that the headlines I’m seeing about this story from Christian Right groups aren’t even subtle about this. Take this one, for example:

Focus on the Family Clarifies Position, Opposes Homosexual Judicial Nominees

They’re priding themselves on the fact that they’re opposing a gay person getting this job before they even know anything else about the person! As if being gay is the end-all, be-all characteristic about a person…

It’s pathetic and it’s telling.

I don’t know how any Christians could keep silent about their opposition to groups like this. They need to speak out against this sort of bigotry, or else they’re part of the problem.



