During the Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court nomination hearings on Tuesday, in response to a question from Senator Dianne Feinstein about whether she would roll back protections for the LGBT community, Judge Barrett replied that she has “never discriminated on the basis of sexual preference and would not discriminate on the basis of sexual preference.”
This response turned out to be controversial. Why? Because apparently the phrase “sexual preference,” which has been widely used for decades, is suddenly offensive. Did you get the memo? Because I didn’t.
But, lacking anything legitimate to complain about, the left decided to turn this once innocuous phrase into the n-word of 2020.
Why? Because according to LGBT advocates, the term “sexual preference” implies that sexuality is a choice. The proper term is “sexual orientation.”
“Barrett’s use of ‘sexual preference’ alarmed many viewers, myself included, for good reason,” explained Mark Joseph Stern of Slate. “The archaic phrase suggests that sexuality is a choice, that gay and bisexual people simply prefer to partner with people of the same sex—a preference that, with enough willpower, can be changed.”
Slate wasn’t the only rag to pounce on the “story.” A Google News search yields over 5,400 results for stories on Barrett’s use of the phrase.
But if the phrase is so archaic and offensive, and apparently disqualifying for Barrett, can someone explain why Joe Biden used the exact same phrase back in May during a virtual campaign roundtable and no one said anything about it?
Biden promised to “rebuild the backbone of this country, the middle class, but this time bring everybody along regardless of color, sexual preference, their backgrounds.”
Can we start asking Biden endless questions about what he “really meant” by using the phrase?
Will he be asked to apologize?
I won’t hold my breath.
Matt Margolis is the author of the new book Airborne: How The Liberal Media Weaponized The Coronavirus Against Donald Trump, and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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