Does Elena Kagan's sexuality matter?

While pundits on the gay left and religious right want Supreme Court nominee Kagan to address lesbian rumors, others angrily dismiss the debate

Should we care about Kagan's sexual orientation?
(Image credit: Getty)

Though an unnamed Obama official said that Elena Kagan is not a lesbian a month ago, questions about the Supreme Court nominee's sexuality have resurfaced — on both the right and the left. Some conservative religious groups and gay bloggers are demanding that Kagan herself address the question head-on. It's relevant to her nomination, says Atlantic blogger Andrew Sullivan, who argues that Obama's "don't ask, don't tell" approach just perpetuates the need for gay high-officials to closet themselves. Is Kagan's sexuality a pertinent issue? (Watch a Fox report about Elena Kagan's mysterious past)

Of course, it's relevant: "It's bizarre to argue that a Justice's sexual orientation will not in some way affect his or her judgment of the issue," says Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic. "It's especially true with respect to Obama. He has, after all, told us that one of his criteria for a Supreme Court Justice is knowing what it feels like to be on the wrong side of legal discrimination."

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