Earlier on this site I said that I was keeping my queer little fingers crossed for Elena Kagan's nomination because I had assumed—based on her haircut, her fondness for softball and cigars, Andrew Sullivan's declarations, and my own rusty gaydar—that she was indeed an authentic lesbian. Alas, no. She says she's not gay. Her friends say she's not gay. Her family (according to my source) says she's not gay. The White House says she's not gay. Okay, okay. We get it. SHE'S NOT GAY. But guess what? Methinks the lady doth protest a bit too much. And, therefore, I'm beginning to suspect the deeply troubling possibility that Kagan is one of those sad, lonely unrealized lesbians, or, worse, a repressed victim of "lesbian panic" who has chosen to remain in the closet.It has also recently come to light that Kagan might not support gay marriage. Of course, folks on the right are crying that she does support gay marriage (which is oddly comforting). But gay rights activists are rightly worried that her legal writings contain the statement: "There is no federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage." That does not sound good. However, an article on Salon makes the point that, in a possible attempt to appear more centrist, Kagan might have been trying to back off the very pro-gay rights stance she took while dean of Harvard Law School. Even if this is the case, I am still troubled by her, at best, political maneuvering and, at worst, closeted behavior in order to advance her career by seeming less supportive of gay rights. Andrew Sullivan put it this way: "Her entire life seems to have been a closet - in the pursuit of a career."
I would love to have the first gay American on the US Supreme Court. But does it count if she's in the closet?
