No one is completely unbiased. People have opinions and often share those opinions. It’s human nature.
But judges, especially those who hold some of the highest positions, are supposed to strive and stand for fairness, equality and justice. Monday, though, the group One Wisconsin Now released some of State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley’s writings from a student paper when she attended Marquette University. It’s safe to say that they completely discredit those ideals she supposedly stood for.
In these articles Bradley lays out her argument for why gay people are “murderers” and “degenerates” and even made time to make fun of those suffering from HIV. Bradley, like most other people, shared her opinions. It’s just a shame her opinions are extremely disturbing.
Wisconsin justice under fire for homophobic comments made in college newspaper
Her article was a response to President Bill Clinton getting elected, but what she wrote and how she went about expressing her anger is quite telling.
Let’s take a look at a few of her statements from those publications:
“But the homosexuals and drug addicts who do essentially kill themselves and others through their own behavior deservedly receive none of my sympathy.”
As a homosexual, I’d like to think that my sexuality isn’t suicide. In fact, it is writing and hate speech like this that often pushes LGBT youth to suicide.
“Heterosexual sex is very healthy in a loving marital relationship. Homosexual sex, however, kills.”
It does kill. It kills people like Bradley who clearly don’t believe that all people are created equal and deserve the right to pursue their own happiness.
Those are just two examples of the kind of hate Bradley was preaching back in 1992 and it shows her temperament, or lack thereof. While her article was intended to respond to Clinton winning the White House, she instead attacked his voters, calling them “stupid” or “evil.” And this is the kind of temperament currently operating at the state’s highest judicial level.
Bradley did apologize for her past writings, but assured voters these comments were not “reflective of her worldview,” adding, “These comments have nothing to do with who I am as a person or a jurist, and they have nothing to do with the issues facing the voters of this state.”
But that’s the problem, what you think, and what you think is OK to write in a student newspaper in college is clearly reflective of who you are as a person.
Bradley, in her “apology,” claimed that this was just a mudslinging campaign to try and distract voters. The only mudslinging going on though, is the mud that Bradley is throwing at herself. She thought it was OK to bash gays, she thought is was OK to write those thoughts down and now she thinks it’s OK to dismiss these past incidents. Did Bradley know she would be a state Supreme Court justice while writing her opinion for a student newspaper? Probably not. But actions have consequences. And it doesn’t matter if it was over 20 years ago, it still happened.
Someone who held such strong, awful views back then most likely hasn’t changed to become an unbiased, responsible judge. And because of this, Bradley should not be re-elected in this upcoming April 5 election. Maybe when she loses, she can write another article bashing “stupid” and “evil” voters.
Luke Schaetzel ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science and journalism.
