The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

How Gay Is Elena Kagan?

Posted on | April 19, 2010 | 59 Comments

Gayer than the annual convention of the K.D. Lang Fan Club, but the White House was so eager to slam Ben Domenech as author of a right-wing “whisper campaign” that now the Obama administration finds itself lashed to the mast of its adamant insistence on Kagan’s heterosexuality.

The weekend merriment is recounted by The Week (“A lesbian smear campaign?”) and by Lachlan Markay at Newsbusters:

Left-wing bloggers Julian Sanchez and Matt Yglesias shared Domenech’s apparently mistaken belief that Kagan was a lesbian. As Sanchez noted on Twitter, “Gay news sites treat it as common knowledge.”

Markay’s post involves a “smear” of a different sort: Sanchez isn’t “left-wing,” he’s a libertarian who works for the Cato Institute. NTTAWWT. But the point is that Elena Kagan was identified as a lesbian by people who aren’t anti-gay, including Jennifer Vanasco at the Seattle Gay News:

Suddenly, it seems possible that the next Supreme Court pick might be a lesbian. … Solicitor General Elena Kagan is not openly gay at the moment — which, of course, may mean she’s not gay at all. But persistent rumors, an absence of denial, and some assurances from people I trust make me think that, yeah, she probably is. And she’s right now on the short list of potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on his retirement this summer.

However, the administration’s reaction leads Stephen H. Miller to write, “Is the ‘Charge’ of Being Gay a Slur? Ask Obama.” Miller quotes Sanchez’s boss at Cato, David Boaz:

[A] White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, said he complained to CBS because the column “made false charges.” I would have hoped that in 2010, in a liberal White House, the statement that someone is gay would not be considered a “charge.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines “charge” as “a claim of wrongdoing; an accusation.” For many decades it was indeed a “charge,” and a career-ending one, to be identified as gay. I would hope that’s no longer true, and I’m disappointed in the White House’s language.

Of course, there are serious considerations involved here, but I’m still laughing at the overwhelming silliness of it all. The White House, in its eagerness to depict right-wingers as hateful homophobes, has staked its credibility on Elena Kagan being straight.

And she’s gayer than the audience at a Greta Garbo film festival!

UPDATE: Doggone it, I’m trying to have some good harmless fun with this, and Peter Beinart has to get all serious:

 If Solicitor General Elana Kagan gets the nod, conservatives will beat the hell out of her for opposing military recruitment on campus when she was dean of Harvard Law School. And liberals should concede the point; the conservatives will be right.

But that’s no fun at all, Beinart. The fun part is, Elena Kagan is gayer than the semi-finalists in a Janet Reno lookalike contest!

Comments

59 Responses to “How Gay Is Elena Kagan?”

  1. Your riddle of the day « The Daley Gator
    May 10th, 2010 @ 6:46 pm

    […] Elena Kagan is Gay Google Bomb. Tonight, I’m reaping the Google traffic bonanza from ”How Gay Is Elena Kagan?” (Short answer: Gayer than Rosie O’Donnell guest-hosting the Ellen DeGeneres show.) Now […]

  2. Dale Squarepants
    May 11th, 2010 @ 6:46 am

    “Spot the Dyke” game. Look in the parking lot of a restaurant you are going into. See a gay bumpersticker, bet money on who there is the owner. Look out the window, see who was right.

    Short hair, manly features, over-weight, loud mouth Rosie O’Donell type, gay tattoo?

    Blech…

  3. Dale Squarepants
    May 11th, 2010 @ 1:46 am

    “Spot the Dyke” game. Look in the parking lot of a restaurant you are going into. See a gay bumpersticker, bet money on who there is the owner. Look out the window, see who was right.

    Short hair, manly features, over-weight, loud mouth Rosie O’Donell type, gay tattoo?

    Blech…

  4. NDiaz
    May 11th, 2010 @ 1:30 pm

    She looks like Uncle Fester

  5. NDiaz
    May 11th, 2010 @ 8:30 am

    She looks like Uncle Fester

  6. donh
    May 14th, 2010 @ 3:26 am

    What concerns me about Elena Kegan being lesbian is

    #1 She has taken a strong interest in protecting the rights of pornographers to publish obscenity.

    #2 She dated Elliot Spitzer

    #3 She may have an uncle Loui in the sickest realms of the porn business. Lou Kagan is the photographer for House of Milan who along with his son Karl publish rape and bondage magazines.

  7. donh
    May 13th, 2010 @ 10:26 pm

    What concerns me about Elena Kegan being lesbian is

    #1 She has taken a strong interest in protecting the rights of pornographers to publish obscenity.

    #2 She dated Elliot Spitzer

    #3 She may have an uncle Loui in the sickest realms of the porn business. Lou Kagan is the photographer for House of Milan who along with his son Karl publish rape and bondage magazines.

  8. González
    August 6th, 2010 @ 12:51 pm

    I’d love to be a fly on the wall the day Christ will be judging you folks. Or, maybe, just maybe, it’s the christians that will be left behind during the rapture. If I were Christ, I would puke at what you’ve become.

    There is nothing about your remarks that emulate christian wisdom least of all christian values.

    And, the other jolt (REF: Geo.Moot above), our forefather who authored our constitution were ‘deists’ not christians. Christianity, judaism, buddism, islamism, etc., is simply the mask that is worn to appease the myopic brains of the little people. And, in today’s world, we deists still hide behind religious masks from the little ‘UGLY FASCISTS’ that call themselves ‘american patriots’ — as if the rest of us are not good, compassionate, and patriotic citizens.

    What a slap in the face to your neighbor.

    GOD HELP US !

  9. González
    August 6th, 2010 @ 8:51 am

    I’d love to be a fly on the wall the day Christ will be judging you folks. Or, maybe, just maybe, it’s the christians that will be left behind during the rapture. If I were Christ, I would puke at what you’ve become.

    There is nothing about your remarks that emulate christian wisdom least of all christian values.

    And, the other jolt (REF: Geo.Moot above), our forefather who authored our constitution were ‘deists’ not christians. Christianity, judaism, buddism, islamism, etc., is simply the mask that is worn to appease the myopic brains of the little people. And, in today’s world, we deists still hide behind religious masks from the little ‘UGLY FASCISTS’ that call themselves ‘american patriots’ — as if the rest of us are not good, compassionate, and patriotic citizens.

    What a slap in the face to your neighbor.

    GOD HELP US !