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
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."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Question her policies, not her preferences: I get why the "far right" wants this unfounded lesbian "whisper campaign," says Richard Kim in The Nation, but it's "naive" and bizarre" for gay-rights advocates like Sullivan to make an issue of her sexuality. Who she sleeps with, "if she sleeps with anyone at all," is irrelevant and — unlike her mysterious legal opinions — none of our business.
Gay is a deal-breaker: "It's time we got over the myth that what a public servant does in his private life is of no consequence," says Bryan Fischer at the American Family Association's blog. Lesbians, like other "sexually abnormal" people, are morally unfit to sit on the Supreme Court. The media needs to ask her, point-blank, if she sleeps with other women.
"Is she or isn't she? Let's ask her"
Conservatives shouldn't engage in identity politics: "By Obama's standards, Kagan's identity should be fair game," says Allahpundit at Hot Air, since he apparently thinks "identity" is key to judicial philosophy. But do conservatives really want to go there? If a Justice Kagan hears a gay marriage case, her "liberalism," not "possible homosexuality," will guide her.
"Will Kagan's orientation be an issue?"
Too bad she's not gay: I wish that Obama had nominated an openly lesbian woman, not a sexual "cipher" like Kagan, says Jack Shafer in Slate. Until we put an "uncloseted" gay or lesbian nominee "through the meat grinder of Senate confirmation," identity politics will clog the process and older, unmarried nominees — Kagan, David Souter, Harriet Miers — will keep getting the gay question.
"I wish Elena Kagan were an uncloseted lesbian"
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Is the Gaza war tearing US university campuses apart?
Today's Big Question Protests at Columbia University, other institutions, pit free speech against student safety
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
DOJ settles with Nassar victims for $138M
Speed Read The settlement includes 139 sexual abuse victims of the former USA Gymnastics doctor
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published