On April 1, the Senate confirmed former Colorado solicitor general Timothy Tymkovich for the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, they weren't April fooling. As I wrote back on Feb. 19 and Feb. 22, former Colorado solicitor general Tymkovich defended that state's 1992 Amendment Two, banning legal protections based on sexual orientation. He also was harshly critical of the Supreme Court's ruling in Romer vs. Evans that Amendment Two violated the constitution's equal protections guarantees, and that gay citizens can not be singled out as a class for special discrimination by the state based solely on popular prejudice. In other words, there must be a convincingly rational basis when the state treats gays differently from heterosexuals.
Tymkovich wrote that Romer illustrated "judicial histrionics," adding that it was "merely another example of ad hoc, activist jurisprudence without constitutional mooring." His nomination was opposed by both the Log Cabin Republicans and the Human Rights Campaign.
So did Democrats launch a filibuster like the one that's kept Miguel Estrada, a judicial nominee with no anti-gay record, from becoming an appellate judge? Hardly. The Senate confirmed Tymkovich 58-41.
Covering the Culture Wars.
A new book, "Irreconcilable
Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate,"
by Thomas C. Caramagno provides much food for thought as it
examines the rhetoric used on both sides in gay rights battles over
the years. Caramagno, an academic at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, writes:
What has happened to the "debate" in "the gay rights debate"? Why does each side resort to moral condemnations and demonizing stereotypes instead of extended, useful dialog?"Oversimplifying each side's agenda and membership obscures important ideological distinctions within the "gay communitiy" and anti-gay rights groups.
Caramagno delves into the great divide with a good deal of thoroughness and has produced a valuable resource, although at $64.95 it's rather pricey. Also, I wish he hadn't fallen into the trendy trap, born in academia, of referring to "LGBTs" as if this designated an actual class of being.
Update:The author e-mailed to say there is a
paperback version for $24.95.
--Stephen H. Miller