because he failed the bar exam for refusing to answer a legal
question about gay marriage. I called
him an idiot.
I was pretty harsh, though I do stand by my statement “This suit is
absurd.”
At the end of the post I gave this advice “Go back to the books and
take responsibility for yourself.”
Apparently he has.
He has dropped his suit, altered his view of gay marriage and
apologized. Some of his quotes to the AP and in an email to a
local Massachusetts newspaper:
To the AP:
“After speaking with numerous members of the gay
community, including my own friends, I began to empathize with
their denial of basic human rights and how they feel discriminated
against,”
In an email to a newspaper:
Dunne, an Irish immigrant who first came to the United
States in 1998, said the change also was prompted in part by racism
the Irish once faced in the United States, his six-year stint in
the US Army, and the war in Iraq.
“Members of the gay community are in combat and dying for their
country, and yet they’re being denied the basic human rights they
are fighting for,” he said.
Dunne first apologized for being an “instrument of bigotry and
prejudice” in an e-mail published in the Jan. 3 edition of Bay
Windows, a weekly Boston newspaper.
In the letter, he said his “misguided” lawsuit “regrettably
perpetuated intolerance and animosity towards my fellow
Americans.”
This
blogger believes (from whom I ultimately heard this) he’s
dropped his suit because “Pissing off all the members of the bar is
not a good way to start a career and that probably had more to do
with Dunne dropping the suit than any sudden metamorphisis about
gay marriage.”
But after reading the article, I tend to agree with this:
Lee Swislow, executive director of Gay & Lesbian
Advocates & Defenders, said she believed that Dunne’s apology
was honest.
“I think it is genuine, because I have seen so many other people
make similar journeys,” she said. “He just made his
publicly.”
Apology accepted.