Judge speaks on closeted life
The Lambda Legal Society sponsored Monday's lecture.
Published Oct. 9, 2007
Judge Lawrence Mooney of the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District spoke about his personal experiences being a closeted gay man and then an openly gay one to a crowd of about 60 on Monday.
The lecture was titled "Observations of an Openly Gay Judge."
Lambda Legal Society sponsored the event. Society chairman John Griesedieck said the group is an organization dedicated to promoting acceptance and personal growth of students and networking between law students and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender friendly employers.
Programs Director Jessi Milne said she hoped the event would change the way LGBT individuals are viewed.
"It's really important that we know that there are public figures that are out," Milne said.
Mooney said he was a closeted gay man for many years before he came out.
"I was very successful professionally but more lonely day by day," Mooney said.
Mooney said he came to realize he had to try to accept himself as a gay man and came out in 1985 to his family, trusted co-workers and his boss, former St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney George Westfall. Mooney said Westfall assured him he would never lose his job due to his sexual orientation.
Mooney said largely, the law has refused to acknowledge LGBT individuals.
He compared the legal rights of LGBT individuals to the rights of women and slaves in the past.
"Lack of acknowledgement by the law is a powerful form of oppression," Mooney said.
Mooney said the law responds to change instead of leading it. He cited the 2003 decision in Lawrence et al. v. Texas, in which the U.S. Supreme Court declared a Texas law prohibiting homosexual sodomy to be unconstitutional, as a turning point.
"This revolution in thinking was not caused by generals or presidents, but by rogue individuals who have begun to emerge from the prison of the closet," Mooney said.
He said old stereotypes of gay men affect current debates, such as same-sex couples adopting children.
"The truth is, if gays are allowed to marry another gay, then it's a non-issue," he said.
Mooney said although he considers cases based only on facts and truth, his sexual orientation has affected his job performance.
"I try harder," he said.
Mooney said he is more skeptical of what is presented as truth.
He also said he appreciates society's underdogs and pays more attention to oppression.
Mooney addressed the argument that same-sex marriage will lead to marriages between adults and animals or
children.
"We look like a family," Mooney said of himself and his partner. "If someone marries a dachshund, do they look like a family? I think that's a distinction the law can make."
Mooney said there is a difference between civil marriages, performed and recognized by the state, and religious marriages, performed and recognized by a religious institution.
"When we talk about the gay marriage debate, I'm talking about civil marriage," Mooney said.
Mooney said he has decided one custody case involving a lesbian mother and has never been asked to recuse himself from a case because of his sexual orientation.
"Law is always, we hope, being an instrument of justice," Mooney said.
Mooney said there was not an established gay community in rural Missouri when he was growing up.
"If you realized you were gay, you got the hell out of the Midwest," Mooney said.
