{"id":33607,"date":"2011-11-07T08:52:07","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T15:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=33607"},"modified":"2011-12-27T13:22:55","modified_gmt":"2011-12-27T20:22:55","slug":"degrading-gay-people-isn%e2%80%99t-acceptable-judge-murphy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/11\/degrading-gay-people-isn%e2%80%99t-acceptable-judge-murphy\/","title":{"rendered":"Degrading gay people isn\u2019t acceptable, Judge Murphy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_33609\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 270px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33609 \" title=\"Heath horizontal\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Heath-horizontal1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"256\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n<h4>District Judge Mike Murphy degraded gay people in conversations with a court employee and another judge who are both gay. He also created a hostile work environment. Treating people that way isn\u2019t acceptable. Murphy needs to apologize.<\/h4>\n<p><em>Warning: This article contains language that is explicit and that many will find offensive.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d like to think our society wouldn\u2019t tolerate a male district court judge telling a joke that degrades women to a female employee of the court.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d also like to think our society wouldn\u2019t tolerate such a judge describing numerous sexual situations to a female judge, including talking in graphic detail about his female cousin\u2019s sexual preferences and making a derogatory comment about her.<\/p>\n<p>But District Judge Mike Murphy said comparable things about gay people to a male court employee and a female judge who are both gay. With the exception of the media <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/10\/report-highlights-murphy%e2%80%99s-comments-about-gay-people\/\" target=\"_blank\">shining light<\/a> on Murphy\u2019s comments, the criticism of his conduct has been left primarily to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/11\/murphy-on-defense-over-comments-about-gay-people\/\" target=\"_blank\">gay-rights groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What does it say about our society that we\u2019re largely leaving it to gay people to stand up for gay people?<\/p>\n<h3>Murphy\u2019s statements<\/h3>\n<p>In case you haven\u2019t been paying attention, District Judge Lisa Schultz secretly recorded a conversation she had with Murphy at the courthouse in December 2010. That recording is the basis for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/07\/judge-murphy-arrested-on-new-charge\/\" target=\"_blank\">one bribery charge<\/a> against Murphy.<\/p>\n<p>Murphy\u2019s comments about gay people have nothing to do with the bribery case, but the recording provides a candid look at a judge who has admitted to having a big mouth. You can listen to the entire, 38-minute recording <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/10\/report-highlights-murphy%E2%80%99s-comments-about-gay-people\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. Some highlights:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>During the meeting with Schultz, Murphy shared details of a conversation he said he had with a male employee of the court. \u00a0Murphy told Schultz, \u201cHe, you know, I told him a big old nasty faggot joke, and he says, you do know I\u2019m gay? And I said of course. I said, if you weren\u2019t I wouldn\u2019t have told you that joke.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Murphy also talked with Schultz, who is a lesbian, about a female cousin he described as being gay. Murphy said when men \u201chit on her,\u201d she would tell them they had a lot in common: \u201cWe both like to eat pussy.\u201d He then described his cousin as \u201ca diesel <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefreedictionary.com\/Diesel+Dyke\" target=\"_blank\">dyke<\/a> from day one.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>In telling Schultz that God made him heterosexual, Murphy said he wouldn\u2019t \u201cbe honking some guy\u2019s johnson\u201d even if there were no more women on Earth.<\/li>\n<li>Murphy spoke during the conversation with Schultz about an apparent investigation into his conduct, referencing \u201cmy confidential deal about being, you know, uh, anti-gay, anti-semitic.\u201d He said such allegations are \u201ca crock of shit. You know, I may be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, but I\u2019m none of those other things.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The power of the words we use<\/h3>\n<p>As Murphy\u2019s attorney has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/11\/murphy-on-defense-over-comments-about-gay-people\/\" target=\"_blank\">pointed out<\/a>, Murphy was \u201ctalking privately in a friendly manner to an openly gay person,\u00a0in part discussing gay politics and how to make improvement on gay issues\u2026 he\u00a0praised the ending of \u2018Don\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell\u2019 in the military and the advances on gay marriage;\u00a0he bemoaned the unfairness of\u00a0bullying of gays in schools, the firing of a gay court employee and the stereotyping of gays by society.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Yes, it appears that Murphy supports gay rights. But that doesn\u2019t change the fact that, according to Murphy\u2019s own statement, he told a joke to a gay employee that may have made the employee uncomfortable. (That\u2019s my assumption, since the employee asked, \u201cYou do know I\u2019m gay?\u201d) It doesn\u2019t change the fact that Murphy made numerous comments to Schultz about gay people that could be taken as derogatory, including labeling a woman a \u201cdiesel dyke,\u201d and put Schultz in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with him or confronting him.<\/p>\n<p>Talking in a \u201cfriendly manner?\u201d What if Schultz was too intimidated to stand up to Murphy as he said degrading things about gay people? What if the court employee felt harassed but didn\u2019t stand up for himself because he\u2019s an employee and Murphy is a judge?<\/p>\n<p>Murphy bemoaned bullying in schools, but isn\u2019t his \u201crude\u201d and \u201ccrude\u201d talk a form of bullying? I think it\u2019s fair to say that his comments created a hostile work environment.<\/p>\n<p>NMPolitics.net columnist Nick Voges authored <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/07\/the-nba-is-right-were-better-than-that\/\" target=\"_blank\">a column<\/a> earlier this year in which he recalled his best childhood friend sharing that he was gay when they were juniors in high school. From Voges\u2019 column:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c\u2018How long have you known?\u2019 I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Forever,\u2019 he replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Why didn\u2019t you tell me sooner?\u2019 I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut even as I asked the question, I could easily recall the many times I\u2019d said, with easy and careless cruelty, that something or someone was gay (or some more offensive version of the word). Of course, he had used that same language as well. We all did \u2013 our friends, our fathers, our coaches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt that moment I was as deeply aware as I\u2019ve ever been about the power of the words we use.\u00a0 I was heartbroken \u2013 and remain so in some ways \u2013 that I\u2019d been a stumbling block to my best friend during a key leg in his journey toward being the man he wanted to be. What kind of person \u2013 much less friend \u2013 does that? Not the kind that I wanted to be. I wanted to have been better than that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Our words have immense power. The fact that Murphy is supportive of gay rights indicates that he understands on some level the difficulty gay people face in our society. It also makes his conduct even more egregious.<\/p>\n<h3>Murphy needs to apologize<\/h3>\n<p>As NMPolitics.net has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/06\/judge-murphy-to-start-at-end-of-july\/\" target=\"_blank\">detailed previously<\/a>, members of the commission that interviewed Murphy for the judgeship in 2006 asked about his big mouth, which Murphy himself called his tendency to make\u00a0\u201clocker-room jokes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Murphy told that commission he recognized the difference between what is appropriate \u201cin the private setting\u201d and what is appropriate in court. He promised that his mouth wouldn\u2019t be an issue.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m giving Murphy the benefit of the doubt by assuming he was simply wrong when he said he understood the difference.<\/p>\n<p>What Murphy says in his own home is his business. But what he said at the courthouse to a colleague and to an employee of the court \u2013 someone over whom he has some level of power \u2013 is the public\u2019s business. He\u2019s an elected judge. He asked to be placed in a position that requires that he be held to a high standard.<\/p>\n<p>That standard includes treating court employees and colleagues with dignity and respect.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Murphy said things that were degrading and offensive. He created a hostile work environment. And perhaps worst of all, his attorney is now using the fact that Murphy supports gay rights to suggest his comments aren\u2019t important.<\/p>\n<p>Words matter, Judge Murphy. A public apology from you would be a good start toward healing the wounds you created.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m frankly shocked that, with the exception of gay-rights groups, our society has expressed little outrage over Murphy\u2019s comments. It\u2019s absurd that more people aren\u2019t standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the gay community in response to this situation.<\/p>\n<p>Count me among those denouncing Murphy\u2019s conduct in the courthouse. He owes Schultz an apology. He owes the court employee an apology. He owes the entire gay community an apology.<\/p>\n<p>Someday, Murphy is going to have to learn that treating people this way isn\u2019t acceptable. I hope this is that day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/haussamen\" target=\"_blank\">Haussamen bio<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/heath-haussamen\" target=\"_blank\">Commentary page<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/category\/haussamen-columns\/feed\" target=\"_blank\">Feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>District Judge Mike Murphy degraded gay people in conversations with a court employee and another judge who are both gay. He also created a hostile work environment. Treating people that way isn\u2019t acceptable. Murphy needs to apologize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[186,216,161,233],"class_list":["post-33607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-culture","tag-judge-murphy","tag-judiciary","tag-gay-and-lesbian-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}