It’s really tempting to write about Osama finally getting his just desserts this week — particularly after I learned that before they tossed his body into the sea it was wrapped in Obama’s real birth certificate — but there have been too many important events on the marriage front that merit our attention.
Developments began when President Obama unilaterally decided the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) he supported during his presidential campaign in 2008, was past its Constitutional sell–by date in 2011. Evidently President Clinton, who signed the law in 1996, did not possess Obama’s finely tuned Constitutional antenna.
The President then directed Justice Department lawyers to refuse to defend DOMA — which in a nutshell defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman and denies federal benefits to same–sex partners — in the courtroom, although he did say that if House Republicans wanted to scrounge up some leftover stimulus money and hire a lawyer it was okay by him.
(Just a sidelight here, but it’s it interesting that while Republican Speaker John Boehner is complaining he’s powerless to cut the deficit and at the mercy of those bullies in the Senate since he only “controls one half of one third of the government,” Obama goes out and annexes the judiciary.)
In response House Republicans hired former solicitor general Paul Clement, a partner with the law firm of King & Spalding, to resume defense of DOMA in federal court. For a while everything was just peachy: Obama was back to feeling morally superior and Ma and Pa Kettle could relax and return to working on bringing prayer back to the schools.
The equilibrium lasted less than a week.
The “Human Rights Campaign,” a prominent homosexual lifestyle promotion group that focuses on humans from the waist down, began pressuring King & Spalding to drop the new client. The group sent threatening letters to the K&S’s clients and rushed to contact top law schools to inform “them of K&S’ decision to promote discrimination.”
This is an interesting mindset. If by defending the law of the land — which seeks to prevent a wholesale redefinition of the institution of marriage by a willful sex–obsessed minority — constitutes a “decision to promote discrimination;” does K&S free–of–charge defense of Guantanamo detainees promote terrorism?
No doubt management at King and Spalding was taken aback by the sudden attack since the firm had earlier applied for and received a rating of 95 out of 100 on LGBT issues from the interest group. What the naïf’s at K&S failed to realize was that when you ask the “Human Rights Campaign” for an award you are married to their agenda in perpetuity. And they take a very dim and vindictive view of any firm with multiple ideology partners.
Pressure continued, according to Talking Points Memo, until King & Spalding client Coca–Cola expressed extreme displeasure with the DOMA defense and suggested K&S withdraw. Which just goes to show you that if you thought male–female marriage was the real thing, Coke thinks you’re mistaken.
Subsequently, K&S Chairman Robert Hays cravenly resigned the defense of DOMA whining about “inadequate” vetting of the contract. In short order Clement resigned from the firm and joined another where he will continue the defense.
And there it stood, large firm grovels before homosexual fanatics, does the apology dance and hopes this doesn’t mean it can’t hire a decent decorator for the next big party. And once again normal, traditional heterosexuals are characterized as forces of intolerance, bigotry and bad haircuts.
Until last Friday when Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli changed the terms of the debate by firing King & Spalding. He sent a scorching letter to the firm that said it “utterly lacks” courage and told them not to bother reapplying for work in Virginia as long as he’s AG.
This week the National Rifle Association joined Cuccinelli and terminated King & Spalding because of its “indefensible” action.
Here’s hoping the counterattack does not peter out with only two client losses. There are 24 Republican Attorney’s General in the US, what’s preventing them from joining Cuccinelli?
In addition, two can play at the client information game. K&S has clients in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Once the mourning period for Osama is over there is no reason they can’t be contacted and informed of the firm’s actions with regard to homosexual marriage.
It’s not rioting in Kabul, beheading Danish cartoonists or even getting contributors to California Prop. 8 fired, but for the first time there is a penalty to be paid for putting your thumb in the eye of Middle America and it’s about time.
