To social conservatives, Theodore Olson's position against
Despite having what Post writer Robert Barnes called “sterling conservative credentials” from working under the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, Olson is heading the legal charge to secure homosexuals “the right to marry whomever they want, wherever in the United States of America they live.”
Olson and his Democratic partner David Boies will be presenting closing arguments for their anti-Prop 8 suit to a federal court in
Although Olson calls himself a “mossback conservative,” reactions from his conservative peers suggest otherwise. Olson's pro-homosexual stand has left many conservatives shaking their heads in disbelief.
Despite criticism from other conservatives, Olson has held to his controversial conviction. Barnes wrote that Olson “sees no conflict between his conservative beliefs in democracy and his efforts now to have the courts overturn a referendum approved by voters.”
Olson's controversial work against Prop 8 isn't breaking news; he has openly supported legalizing same-sex marriage since he took on the case back in July of 2009, as reported in a Los Angeles Times interview [2]. It even earned him and Boies a berth in the 2009 Time Magazine 100 most influential people under the heading “thinkers.”
Back in January, Olson penned an extensive Newsweek cover story [3], “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage,” detailing his involvement with the anti-Prop 8 suit and arguing the constitutional right for marriage regardless of orientation.
But the Barnes' article, with its present-tense headline saying that Olson “surprises many conservatives,” made it seem as though Olson's decision just came to light.
"We believe we can change people's minds just by bringing this case," Olson told Barnes, referring to his suit against Prop 8. "It will give us an audience."
So perhaps Barnes' article was an attempt to help Olson get that audience as his case is before the Federal bench. Certainly it wouldn't be the first time the Post let its support of the gay agenda color its editorial decisions. The paper's coverage on everything from gay activists influencing city elections [4] to the landmark decision last March to grant same-sex marriage licenses [5] has been unrelentingly one-sided, including its breathless reporting of D.C.'s “watershed moment” in an emotionally charged article [6] about the first gay marriage ceremonies in D.C.
During that week that D.C. started allowing same-sex couples to apply for marriage licenses, the Post devoted a total of nearly four full pages to the new law and its effect on same-sex couples, according to a Culture and Media Institute report [7]. CMI also found [8] that WaPo's coverage from that week quoted same-sex marriage supporters 10 times more than opponents.
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