Degrading gay people isn’t acceptable, Judge Murphy

[The Philosopher]

from nmpolitics.net

I’d like to think our society wouldn’t tolerate a male district court judge telling a joke that degrades women to a female employee of the court.

I’d also like to think our society wouldn’t tolerate such a judge describing numerous sexual situations to a female judge, including talking in graphic detail about his female cousin’s sexual preferences and making a derogatory comment about her.

But District Judge Mike Murphy said comparable things about gay people to a male court employee and a female judge who are both gay. With the exception of the media shining light on Murphy’s comments, the criticism of his conduct has been left primarily to gay-rights groups.

What does it say about our society that we’re largely leaving it to gay people to stand up for gay people?

Murphy’s statements

In case you haven’t been paying attention, District Judge Lisa Schultz secretly recorded a conversation she had with Murphy at the courthouse in December 2010. That recording is the basis for one bribery charge against Murphy.

Murphy’s comments about gay people have nothing to do with the bribery case, but the recording provides a candid look at a judge who has admitted to having a big mouth. You can listen to the entire, 38-minute recording http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2011/10/report-highlights-murphy%E2%80%99s-comments-about-gay-people/">here. Some highlights:

* During the meeting with Schultz, Murphy shared details of a conversation he said he had with a male employee of the court. Murphy told Schultz, “He, you know, I told him a big old nasty faggot joke, and he says, you do know I’m gay? And I said of course. I said, if you weren’t I wouldn’t have told you that joke.”

* Murphy also talked with Schultz, who is a lesbian, about a female cousin he described as being gay. Murphy said when men “hit on her,” she would tell them they had a lot in common: “We both like to eat pussy.” He then described his cousin as “a diesel dyke from day one.”

* In telling Schultz that God made him heterosexual, Murphy said he wouldn’t “be honking some guy’s johnson” even if there were no more women on Earth.

* Murphy spoke during the conversation with Schultz about an apparent investigation into his conduct, referencing “my confidential deal about being, you know, uh, anti-gay, anti-semitic.” He said such allegations are “a crock of shit. You know, I may be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, but I’m none of those other things.”

The power of the words we use

As Murphy’s attorney has pointed out, Murphy was “talking privately in a friendly manner to an openly gay person, in part discussing gay politics and how to make improvement on gay issues… he praised the ending of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ in the military and the advances on gay marriage; he bemoaned the unfairness of bullying of gays in schools, the firing of a gay court employee and the stereotyping of gays by society.”

Yes, it appears that Murphy supports gay rights. But that doesn’t change the fact that, according to Murphy’s own statement, he told a joke to a gay employee that may have made the employee uncomfortable. (That’s my assumption, since the employee asked, “You do know I’m gay?”) It doesn’t change the fact that Murphy made numerous comments to Schultz about gay people that could be taken as derogatory, including labeling a woman a “diesel dyke,” and put Schultz in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with him or confronting him.

Talking in a “friendly manner?” What if Schultz was too intimidated to stand up to Murphy as he said degrading things about gay people? What if the court employee felt harassed but didn’t stand up for himself because he’s an employee and Murphy is a judge?

http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2011/11/degrading-gay-people-isn%E2%80%99t-acceptable-judge-murphy/">Click Here To Read More

[William769]

1. It's the American way of life.

[NMMNG]

2. What an asshole

:puke: