Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court

[tampa24]

I wanted to bring up the fact that Elena Kagan is now the newest member of the Supreme court. She's the fourth woman to ever hold the job. Of course I wish her and the country well in the decades ahead.

I am pleased that she will be one of the more liberal voices on the court. I have little doubt as to which way she will side when the time comes for the court to decide on issues of gay marriage for instance. Which brings us to a couple of the reasons that Obama nominated her in the first place. For she is not only the fourth woman to hold the job. She is also the first gay one. Obama knows that we gays are not happy with him for moving so slowly on "Don't ask, don't tell." So this was a way for him to try to appease us.

Some may say that they are thrilled by it. The diehards may say that it is not nearly enough. But for myself I am very pleased. Kagan will be the token lesbian for a while. Once the country adjust to that, then they will see less reason to object to an openly gay male.

The country elected an African-American president with a resounding majority of the vote. Now we have a gay justice on the Supreme Court. Of course real progress will come when people don't notice or don't care about the person's gender of sexual orientation. As long as they are competent and well qualified.

 

[ctbigbear]

Aside from the fact that she is unmarried, there is no evidence at all for you to say she's a lesbian. A lot of people in the press, including the gay press, have researched this and found nothing to prove that. So if she's gay, she is in the closet, never had a relationship with a woman even for one night, and dated men. That's not the kind of gay person we need in a powerful position.

 

[aquarius]

I'm just eternally relieved that we have another liberal on the Supreme Court. I think Michelangelo Signorelli's comments recently on Judge Walker's outing in the press have been the most intelligent I've read. He's been talking about how quick everyone was to refuse to name names in reviewing the film "Outrage" because none of them had admitted homosexuality. Crist, Craig, Drier were all documented by the film as gay but NPR, CNN, and NYT would not mention their names in reviewing the film because none of them had admitted it. Yet Walker, who has also never admitted it, has been called gay by every major news media in the US including NPR, CNN and the New York Times. Signorelli calls it the "manipulation of the right wing smear artists."
It would seem Justice Kagan is also a victim of that sort of attack. He went on to say that next they would be asking O'Connor, Day, and Kagan to recuse themselves on voting on abortion issues because they have uteruses and Thomas to not vote on race issues because he is black.
One can only say this about both Walker and Kagan: the strength of their judicial work is such that no matter their orientation, they are a credit to unbiased and balanced thinking. I have no idea about either of their personal lives except that I hear glowing reports of Kagan's relationship with her family and her tenure as an educator, and Justice Walker has written one of the most monumental decisions in the history of gay rights. To read it is to feel what has been the quicksand of centuries of fear suddenly become a foundation of granite. If he is not gay - we should make him honorary.

 

[scoop27]

i think it is irresponsible to assume kagan is gay. Let's stick to the facts.

 

[Ms. Kianna]

i think it is irresponsible to assume kagan is gay. Let's stick to the facts.

I agree. I looked for an hour, and did not find one thing, in the way of proof of her being gay. Some people work very hard to keep their private life private, and just want people to respect that.

 

[joninliverton]

I'm shocked but not surprised that Americans would feel it a great triumph for a gay person to be elected to the Supreme court. Considering that you're supposed to be land of the free, some of your States attitude towards homosexuality and their refusal to allow gay marriage is so well behind the times and some would say kinda 3rd World.

However, a gay person in such an esteemed postion would have to be whiter than white and could not afford his or hers sexuality to influence any decisions he or she has to make in the performance of their duties.