Saturday, May 22, 2010

Is She Or Isn't She - And Does it Matter?

I ran across this on Edge and could not help passing it along. I've not posted much on politics lately but there has been a lot on my mind from Elana Kagan, health care reform, wall street regulation, the oil spill in the gulf, the election Rand Paul and with a nephew in Afghanistan the war is never far from my mind. 
by Ryan Shattuck
EDGE Contributor
Wednesday May 19, 2010

Let's get this out of the way: Elena Kagan is totally a lesbian.

Debating whether Elena Kagan prefers having sex with 'Tab A' as opposed to 'Slot B' is as useful as as wishing Richard Simmons would finally settle down and marry a nice Jewish girl. Ask any gay man or woman on the street, and they will tell you that there's a certain "je ne sais quoi" about her that makes it very clear that Kagan dates women ("je ne sais quoi," by the way, is French for "gaydar.") Kagan is the current Solicitor General, a former law professor at Harvard, is the nominee to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, is arguably one of the most brilliant women in the legal world, and probably brings a U-Haul with her when she goes on dates with women because that's what lesbians do.

So what are we going to do about it?

As it turns out, nobody really knows. Conservatives believe that Kagan should disclose her sexual orientation, the gay community believes that Kagan should not disclose her sexual orientation, conservatives believe that Kagan should not disclose her sexual orientation, and the gay community believes that Kagan should disclose her sexual orientation. Everybody wants to know Kagan's personal life, but nobody can quite agree whether her personal life is or is not or could be or is maybe or is probably not or is kind of is relevant. In fact, on the day of her announcement New York magazine pointed out that "At the moment, on Google Trends, Obama's Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan's name appears twice in the top twenty searches. The second time it appears, the term is 'kagan supreme court.' The first? 'elena kagan personal life.'"

Clearly the public, and particularly those in the political sphere, are interested in what Elena Kagan does behind closed doors. The focus on Kagan's "personal life" has been more intense than that of any other judge or nomination in recent history, and not just because the very image of Antonin Scalia having sex is enough to make the average adult cry and/or sterile. Nobody cares whether the other justices are married, divorced or single; the fact that Kagan may be partenered to a woman somehow makes all the difference in the world. However, it's worth asking: has Kagan brought this upon herself by remaining silent about who she shares her bed with?

The entire controversy over Kagan's supposed sexual orientation has raised two very important questions, for both sides of the political spectrum:

Conservatives, and particularly the religious right, have long preferred that gay men and women remain in the closet, as such private behaviour should remain restricted to the bedroom. Are conservatives being hypocritical when they say that Kagan's sexuality DOES matter?

Liberals, and particularly the gay community, have long argued that gay men and women should come out of the closet and be a good example of courage to others. Are liberals being hypocritical when they say that Kagan's sexuality DOES NOT matter?

The Christian News Wire recently published a story, by the infamous Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth, with the headline "If Elena Kagan Is a Lesbian, She Should Say So because the Public Has a Right to Know." No ambiguity there. Are we to assume that conservatives prefer their gay men and women to be silent and closeted... unless they are put in a position of power? On the other hand, a recent article by Richard Kim in The Nation, the self-described "flagship of the left," argued that "Elena Kagan Is Not Gay" because "Kagan does not have a spouse (man or woman) and that she has never identified herself as gay." Kim goes on to say that "I don't know if Elena Kagan sleeps with women or men. I don't know if she sleeps with anyone at all. I don't care."

So the take-away message from all of this is:

Conservatives want gay people to remain in the closet, unless they're being promoted to a position of power.

Liberals want gay people to come out of the closet, unless they're being promoted to a position of power.

Richard Simmons will be never be promoted to a position of power if he continues to wear those awful booty shorts.

It appears that the nomination battle over Elena Kagan will reveal less about her sexual orientation, and more about the hypocrisy of those who criticize or support her. It's likely that someone, at some point, will question Kagan during her Senate confirmation hearings about her sexual orientation. It's also likely that she will be confirmed to the Supreme Court. I don't actually know whether she's gay or not, but whether her sexual orientation matters says a lot about the person doing the mattering.

Maybe we should focus on more important issues. Like convincing Richard Simmons to put some pants on!


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