IGF CultureWatch

A Defense Worth Making. Bravo to the Log Cabin Republicans for their strong declaration of support for embattled Judge Charles W. Pickering, nominated by President Bush to fill a long vacant slot on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Pickering has been a victim of the ugliest kind of character assassination by Democrats who control the Senate Judiciary Committee and their allies, who've twisted and contorted his history so as to support their allegations of "racial insensitivity" -- an inflammatory tactic aimed at mobilizing voting blocks on the Left. Those who've looked into the matter know better, of course; Judge Pickering has a long and distinguished civil rights record that includes bravely testifying for the prosecution in a criminal hate-murder case against the Ku Klux Klan. What I didn't know is that he holds strong beliefs that gays and lesbians should be treated equally under the law. According to LCR, in 1991 Pickering sharply rebuked an attorney who tried to use a plaintiff's homosexuality in a fraud trial, saying "Homosexuals are as much entitled to be protected [under the law] as any other human beings." And in 1994 he stopped an anti-gay citizens group in the town of Ovett, Mississippi, from using the courts to harass Camp Sister Spirit, a lesbian community.
"The judge who threw out the anti-Camp Sister Spirit case and rebuked homophobia from the bench in the Deep South over ten years ago deserves a promotion," said LCR's Rich Tafel, who spoke with Judge Pickering at length. I'd add that the political demagogues who believe distortion, lies, and vilification are just dandy if they serve to advance their goals ought to be ashamed of themselves (but they won't be).