EEOC Nominee Backtracks On Marriage Equality Statement Over Polygamy Support Charges

11/19/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Accusations of supporting polygamy have forced President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to ask that her name be withdrawn from a statement that was, at least on the surface, written to support same-sex marriage. The statement itself appears to be poorly worded more than anything else. The statement from Beyond Marriage appears to be rather confusing in its terminology. This is a pitfall of many attempts to make language overly broad. Texas may have, for instance, banned all marriages within the state by simply putting in the wordage designed to prevent civil unions, but, instead, banned all institutions which are similar or identical to marriage. Marriage is identical to marriage, and this may be a big problem if someone decides to challenge them on it.

“Committed, loving households in which there is more than one conjugal partner” and “queer couples who decide to jointly create and raise a child with another queer person or couple, in two households” appear to be among the statements which have tripped up Chai Feldblum, who has been an ardent supporter of LGBT rights, including marriage rights. While it is easy to state that these might be seen as supporting polygamy, it appears that they are, more or less, confusingly written. Instead of fighting back on that particular subject, Ms Feldblum chose to issue this statement instead:

I am writing to ask that you remove my name as a signatory to the Beyond Same-Sex Marriage statement. I signed this document because it supports societal recognition of relationships between LGBT couples. But the statement was overly broad and there are parts of it with which I do not agree. Because the text of the statement does not reflect my views, I must ask you to remove my name.

It might be easier if Ms Feldblum were to fight back against the accusations rather than simply backtracking on the statement and opening up further opportunities by those opposed to everything that President Obama wants to accomplish to attack her. This time, they can attack her for backtracking on her statements and accuse her of flip-flopping on the issue of polygamy, and thus paint her not only as being a radical lefty, but a hypocrite as well.