[Ed. note: see the fun fact at the end which I missed the first time I read this piece -- worth a chuckle over these chuckleheads.]

The hard-core homophobes in the House GOP caucus have revealed themselves, and they are a sorry lot indeed. These are the people American history books will cast into the dustbin: bigots, haters, the sorry folks who see civil rights as a zero-sum game. If you get your civil rights, I lose mine.

A group of conservative House Republicans on Tuesday introduced a resolution in Congress to condemn the recent federal court decision overturning Proposition 8 in California.

The introduction of the non-binding measure is one of the most prominent moves against the ruling from Republicans, whose response has largely been muted, or in some cases supportive of the decision.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is sponsoring the resolution, H. Res. 1607. The measure is pending before the House Judiciary Committee.

A quick reminder here: Lamar Smith is the Ranking Member of this Committee, and would become its Chair should the GOP take over the House this fall.

The resolution goes after Judge Vaughn Walker directly, and makes the incontrovertible statement that the decision is "wrong:"

The resolution offers findings faulting U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision for engaging in improper conduct during his consideration of the case. It says Walker “failed to conduct himself in an impartial manner” and “attempted to illegally broadcast the trial in disregard of the harassment such broadcast would invite on witnesses supporting Proposition 8.”

The resolution concludes that the sense of the U.S. House is that:

• Walker “failed to conduct himself in an impartial manner before striking down California’s popularly enacted Proposition 8 and thereby redefined traditional marriage to include same-sex relationships;”

• and Walker’s decision to overturn “California’s popularly enacted Proposition 8 is wrong.”


Here is the full text of the hate-filled screed.

And here is the list of the hard-core homophobes in the House, GOPs all, who want their body to reject Judge Walker’s reasoned decision in the face of foolish non-evidence that gays are icky:

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. JORDAN of Ohio, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. AKIN, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. LATTA, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. PITTS, Mr. JONES, Mrs. BACHMANN, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. MARCHANT, and Mr. ADERHOLT)

Fun fact: I do believe the resolution mis-names the case decided by Judge Walker. Mr Smith calls it Hollingsworth v Perry and not Perry v Schwarzenegger. Maybe this is the revenge of a gay or lesbian copy-editor in someone’s office on Capitol Hill?