Friday, April 29, 2011

Washington Post gets it wrong

For the second time this week, the Washington Post has gotten it way wrong.

Not content with an unsigned editorial earlier in the week on the topic of their error, today they offered a signed editorial (I'll post the link once I find it...it is in the print edition today) saying basically the same thing.

Which is, that Human Rights Campaign and others bullied the law firm house Speaker Boehner selected to defend the so-called Defense of Marriage Act after the President and Justice Department decided to stop wasting taxpayer money to defend an unconstitutional law.

Apparently the post thinks that it is bullying not to reward a firm that takes a stand you don't believe it. (And let's not even discuss the inflamatory use of bullying here at a time when we have an epidemic of gay kids killing themselves because of bullying, because laws like DOMA reinforce to them and to the real bullies that they are second class citizens).

I, and HRC no doubt, believe in everyone's right to representation in court. Even the slimiest criminal has a right to a defense.

However, do you think that a firm defending a member of the Klan should get a civil rights award? I don't.

And I don't think a firm defending DOMA should get a top score from HRC's equality index.

And if my lawyer were defending such a law, I'd want to be told, so I could take my business elsewhere.

And this is what HRC did...they told the firms LGBT clients, via social media, what the firm was doing. And they declined to continue to give the firm a high score on their equality index.

That isn't bullying. That is taking your money and spending it with those who support you.

2 comments:

Dispatch from India said...

I hadn't been following this, but you gave a nice overview. Don't forget to post the link to the article when you find it! Also, I added a link to your blog on my new blog. Hope that's okay.

Digger said...

I'm still trying to find it. The piece was done by Ruth Marcus, but still isn't on their website.