Careful Amy-- Your Bigotry is Showing

 At the confirmation hearing for Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked Barrett about Scalia’s dissent to the 2013 ruling striking down the Section 3 of DOMA, which barred federal recognition of same-sex marriage.  “Now you said in your acceptance speech for this nomination that Justice Scalia’s philosophy is your philosophy,” Feinstein said. “Do you agree with this particular point of Justice Scalia’s view that the U.S. Constitution does not afford gay people, the fundamental right to marry?”

Barrett dodged the question completely, saying upon her confirmation “you would be getting Justice Barrett, not Justice Scalia.”  Barrett also declined to say that that ruling in that case set a precedent, adding further, “I don’t think that anybody should assume that just because Justice Scalia decided decision, a certain way that I would, too,” Barrett said.

Feinstein, however, wasn’t satisfied with that answer, saying that marriage rights for same-sex couples are a fundamental point for large numbers of people.  “You identify yourself with a justice that you (like him) would be a consistent vote to roll back hard fought freedoms and protections for the LGBT community,” Feinstein said. “And what I was hoping you would say is that this would be a point of difference where those freedoms would be respected and you haven’t said that.”

Barrett responded to Feinstein’s concerns by insisting she “has no agenda,” then went on to disavow discrimination on the basis of “sexual preference.”

“I do want to be clear that I have never discriminated on the basis of sexual preference, and would not ever discriminate on the basis of sexual preference,” Barrett said. “Like racism, I think discrimination is abhorrent.”

The term sexual preference is considered inappropriate — and offensive — to describe whether or not a person identifies as LGBTQ because it implies being LGBTQ is choice. Instead, the standard terms are sexual orientation and gender identity.

Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, criticized Barrett in a statement for using the term “sexual preference,” crediting such terminology with the prevalence of widely discredited conversion therapy.

“When Amy Coney Barrett used the term ’sexual preference’ in her testimony before the Senate today, she perpetuated the dangerous and false stereotype that being LGBTQ is not a fundamental aspect of identity, but a mere ’preference,’” Minter said. “This is why so many people, including many parents who send their children to conversion therapy, think being LGBTQ is a choice. As judges know, language matters.”

The prospect of Barrett’s confirmation leading to the Supreme Court reversing Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling granting full rights marriage rights to same-sex couples, has emerged as a real possibility after an unexpected (and highly unusual) statement from U.S. Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas last week declaring war on the decision.

Sen. Patrick Leahy later brought up the revelation that Barrett accepted speaking fees from the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, which is a project of the anti-LGBTQ Alliance Defending Freedom, a group that performs legal work in support of keeping same-sex relations criminalized in the United States, and re-criminalizing them abroad.

Barrett, however, said her experience with Blackstone “was a wonderful one,” and went on to defend the Blackstone fellowship.  “Nothing about any of my interactions with anyone involved in the Blackstone were ever indicative of any kind of discrimination on the basis of anything,” Barrett said.  Many observers criticized Barrett for refusing to denounce Blackstone fellowship during her confirmation hearing.