Sept. 19, 2002
The Human Rights Campaign, the big Washington-based LGBT-rights lobby, has joined the fray with civil rights and feminist groups in opposing the nomination of Michael McConnell for the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Log Cabin Republicans, meanwhile, have met with McConnell and endorsed his appointment.
Arguments can be made either way about McConnell. Many gay activists will not forgive that he was an integral part of the Boy Scouts" legal battle to exclude gay scoutmasters (a battle which the Supreme Court gave to the Scouts, ruling that a private association has a constitutional right to choose leaders who agree with the organization's goals).
What is not acceptable, however, is the distortion in HRC's
anti-McConnell release, attributing words to McConnell that he
never said. Here is an excerpt from HRC's
press release:
McConnell's role in the Boy Scouts of America v. Dale lawsuit demonstrates hostility to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. -- The McConnell brief suggests that the Scouts' policy of excluding gay men is comparable to its exclusion of alcohol or substance abusers from leadership positions.
"But prevailing in their [the Boy Scouts] constitutional battle might prove to be a Pyrrhic victory," McConnell warned at a June 2, 2000, colloquium on evangelical civic engagement. "Unless the Boy Scouts can win public sympathy and not be seen as irrationally bigoted, they could become cultural pariahs and viewed in the same way as 'the Nazis in Skokie.'
"The Scouts would then face overwhelming pressure to change their policies regarding homosexuals," continued McConnell. "On the legal front, moreover, the Scouts' traditional ties with schools, national parks, and the military are in jeopardy. Scout supporters must go on the offensive, to highlight the intolerance of gay-rights activists." -- HRC website, all quote marks as in the HRC release
Pretty bad, right, except these words, despite HRC's quote
marks, aren't exactly McConnell"s. They"re from a paraphrase of
what McConnell said, in the newsletter of a conservative religious
policy institute. Here's the relevant excerpt from the
Ethics and Public Policy Center. Note the LACK of quotes in the
original, which indicates a paraphrase:
But prevailing in their constitutional battle might prove to be a Pyrrhic victory, McConnell warned. Unless the Boy Scouts can win public sympathy and not be seen as irrationally bigoted, they could become cultural pariahs and viewed in the same way as "the Nazis in Skokie." The Scouts would then face overwhelming pressure to change their policies regarding homosexuals. On the legal front, moreover, the Scouts' traditional ties with schools, national parks, and the military are in jeopardy. Scout supporters must "go on the offensive," McConnell counseled, and highlight the intolerance of gay-rights activists. -- Ethics and Policy Center website
Is this a big deal? I think so. Attributing words directly to someone when they"re not really their words is pretty serious, especially when trying to decide if a viewpoint is based on a belief in governmental neutrality regarding moral issues, or rank bigotry. Maybe what McConnell actually said was just as bad, but I don't know (and, after reading HRC's attack, neither do you).
McConnell has opposed adding gays to legislation that protects
racial and religious minorities from job discrimination, as HRC
notes. But he did support a Salt Lake City ordinance that would
have prohibited discrimination based on "lifestyle" and other
non-job-related factors. He also defended a Gay Straight Alliance
club in Salt Lake City when it was banned from a high school,
arguing it had the same rights as other groups to meet on campus
under the 1984 Equal Access Act. That's not to say that HRC, as a
lobby that puts gay anti-discrimination statutes at the top of its
agenda, shouldn't oppose him. But neither should they distort who
he is, or what he actually has said.