20
Legal
Q-NOTES • MAY 7 . 2005
riu iiri
THANKS TO
EVERYONE FOE
MAKING US YOUR
#1 PLACE TO PARTY
M
?/i
- 0|>eii: Moii-Sat H-2, Sunday 3-5S
Checkout Oiir Line-Ups & Special Events At:
iBlfl ivtmCharlotteEaglfteom
//\\ ’ 4514S>uthBlvil,Cliarlotto NC roi em.oooi
GOP leader Frist attacks
LGBT families during simulcast
Event speaker claims supporters of
marriage equality belong in 'an asylum'
by John Marble
WASHINGTON,
Republican Leader
catching the heat
Stonewall DemoCTats
D.C. — Senate
Bill Frist (R-TN) is
from the National
(NSD) for leading a
political event where participants routinely
ridiculed gay families while calling for
legalized discrimination.
Frist joined, via video, a live simulcast
broadcast by the Family Research Council
titled “lustice Sunday: Stopping the Filibuster
Against People of Faith.” The event was de
signed to build support for Republican
efforts to change Senate rules in order to
approve the most radical, anti-gay judicial
nominations of the Bush Administration.
“Sen. Frist just led an event that focused
more energy defending Tom Delay from his
ethical problems than it spent on issues of
faith,” said Eric Stern, NSD executive direc
tor. “Republicans are ready to change
Senate rules to confirm the most radical of
President Bush’s judicial nominees, and
they are willing to exchange personal faith
for partisan pandering in an effort to do just
that, it is telling that Sen. Frist regularly
appears at Family Research Council func
tions, but refuses to meet with gay families
regarding his extreme Senate agenda.”
Shortly after Sen. Frist addressed the
simulcast. Catholic League President Bill
Donahue took the stage and preceded to
laughingly mock gay families. Specifically,
Donahue claimed that support of marriage
equality “is a notion that belongs in an
asylum.” The comment drew wide laugh
ter and applause from the audience at
Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky.,
where the simulcast originated.
During the simulcast, organizers devoted
much of their time urging the confirmation
of Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Although her nomination was rejected by
the Senate in 2003, President George W.
.Bush renominated her earlier this year.
Janice Rogers Brown holds an ideological
judicial record that has consistently attacked
the stability of gay families. In 2003, Brown
was the only justice on the California
Supreme Court to rule against recognizing the
right of gay Californians to legally adopt their
children. Brown argued that allowing a gay
parent to legally adopt the biological child of
their partner “trivializes family bonds.”
Democrats and religious leaders were
quick to react to the event. “What we detect
instead is the work of a political organization
using Christian language to exploit
Americans’ desire to preserve religious values
by framing their political strategy in terms of
religious liberty,” said the Rev. Joe Phelps of
Highland Baptist Church in Louisville.
During the simulcast, Phelps led an
opposition rally of churches from across the
city. Their efforts were joined by representa
tives of the Jefferson County Democratic
Party and through a letter signed by more
than 400 religious leaders across the coun
try. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee (DSCC) noted in an email to sup
porters that the event was designed to cloak
partisan efforts with a religious appearance.
“For all of Frist’s
backpedaling on this
issue, the mere fact
that he participated at
all in this right-wing
event showed that it is
more important to
him to pander to the
right than to speak to
mainstream
America,” wrote Anne
Lewis of the DSCC.
The event was
co-hosted by Dr.
James Dobson,
founder of Focus on
the Family. According
to news reports,
Dobson routinely
met to plot strategy
with White House officials and advisors to
the Bush/Cheney campaign during the
2004 election season. During the simul
cast, Dobson defended recent attacks on
the judiciary by House Republican Leader
Tom Delay and Sen. John Cornyn.
“The majority on the Supreme Court are
unelected, unaccountable, arrogant, imperi
ous, want to redesign culture according to
their own biases, are out of control, and 1
think they need to be reigned in.. .1 agree with
Majority Leader Tom DeLay,” said Dobson.
Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN)
regulariy appears
at Family Research
Council hinctions,
but refuses to meet
with gay families.
If you have a pet,
we should be your vet!
Dr. Margurette Straley
Dr. Leland McLaughlin, Jr.
Freedom
Animal Hospital
3055 Freedom Drive
Chariotte, NC 28208
Phone:704-399-6534
Fax:704-391-0210