Princeton student, Duncan Hosie stopped by NBC News' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell to discuss his Q&A session with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who once again reiterated his anti-gay stance.
Check out what Hosie had to say after the jump!
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell - Duncan Hosie Interview
Thoughts, Instincters? (Beyond Hosie being cute and smart.)
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Original Post
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who's pretty much a lock to vote AGAINST our interests in the two marriage equality cases the Court will be reviewing, is currently making the rounds in promotion of his new book: Reading The Law: The Interpretation Of Legal Texts.
Justice Scalia stopped by Princeton University yesterday, where he was asked by gay Princeton freshman, Duncan Hosie, to explain a previous comparison that he made between gay sex and beastiality his dissenting opinion in the Lawrence vs. Texas Supreme Court case.
See what went down after the jump.
Hosie began to ask Justice Scalia, "”In your dissent in Lawrence v. Texas, you equated laws against gay sex to laws against bestiality," before Scalia interrupted him.
Scalia said:
“I don’t think it’s necessary, but I think it’s effective.
“It’s a form of argument that I thought you would have known, which is called the ‘reduction to the absurd.'
"If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?”
Scalia explained he is not equating sodomy with murder but drawing a parallel between the bans on both.
He dryly told Hosie, “I’m surprised you aren’t persuaded.”
Hosie reached out the The New Civil Rights Movement via email, explaining that Scalia “interrupted me in the middle so I didn’t get to ask it in its entirety."
Here's the full text of Hosie's question:
"In your dissent in Lawrence v. Texas, you equated laws against gay sex to laws against bestiality.
You wrote, 'The Texas statute undeniably seeks to further the belief of its citizens that certain forms of sexual behavior are 'immoral and unacceptable,', the same interest furthered by criminal laws against fornication, bigamy, adultery, adult incest, bestiality, and obscenity.'
Justice Scalia, I’m gay, and as somebody who is gay I find these comparisons extraordinarily offensive. I think there is an fundamental difference between arguing the constitution does not protect gay sex, which is a defensible and legitimate legal position I disagree with, and comparing gays to people who commit murder or engage in bestiality. Do you have any regret or shame for drawing these comparisons you did in your dissents?"
Shockingly, Hosie wasn't persuaded by Scalia's response and says he believes Scalia's writings "dehumanize" gays.
How thrilling that we get to have this guy deciding our fate in the two marriage equality cases...
His argument to the student went like this, “If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder?" But there is not logic to this, since you can replace the first part with whatever you like, for example, “If we cannot have moral feelings against people of different religions from our own, can we have it against murder?" It seems like Scalia would know this, so I think he is just abusing his position of authority, coming out to law students with what looks like a highfalutin logical form, but which is really senseless.
