A man who was invited to be a character witness for Jeff Sessions at his Wednesday confirmation hearing for attorney general once wrote a blog post denigrating the "gay lifestyle." William Smith, the first African-American Republican chief counsel for the Judiciary Committee, assured the committee that Sessions didn't possess any racial animus.
"I know a racist when I see one, and I have seen more than one. Sen. Sessions is not one," Smith said.
Smith reportedly penned an anti-LGBTQ blog post in 2009. After John McCain's '08 campaign manager Steve Schmidt delivered a full-throated endorsement of marriage equality to a conservative gay group, Smith wondered if he would be speaking next at "the Bestiality Club." Right Wing Watch dug up the Legal Times blog post that first exposed Smith's musings:
“I wonder if next week Schmidt will take his close minded stump speech to a NAMBLA meeting. For those unfamiliar with NAMBLA, the acronym is for North American Man Boy Love Association,” Smith responded on wsmith.org in a post dated April 20. [...]
Smith’s post continued:
Schmidt would quickly tell you that he is not advocating that we support 60 year old men in their desire to rape 8 year old boys, but he would not classify his opposition as narrow minded. No! This is a principled position; there is some logic behind it, Schmidt would say.
The post had already been taken down by the time the Legal Times coverage ran on May 19, 2009, but it had been visible earlier that month, wrote David Ingram, and at the time was still “cached” by Google. Smith never responded to a request for an interview. Sessions named Smith as chief counsel on May 13, 2009.
More from Smith’s original post:
Is Schmidt then going to take his close minded stump speech to the Bestiality Club? Again, his answer would be no, although there are a group of people who embrace this lifestyle.
Schmidt and other gay lifestyle proponents would say that my opposition is based on the slippery slope approach. I say that it is based on principle and that it is no more close minded than their position for gay unions. The difference between me and Schmidt is that I’m not a maverick. I’m guided by something called Christian principles. And I don’t need people in California, New York and Washington to tell me what the principles should be.
So that's guy who's been reassuring people that Sessions is a "kind, honest, honorable man," who will "do a fine job as Attorney General."
#MAGA