MANASSAS, Va. — A Virginia law firm says it has taken “immediate and severe” action against an attorney who railed against same-sex marriage in company-wide email, in which he also referred to AIDS as the “gay plague.”
Walter Kubitz, a senior attorney in the intellectual property group at Becker & Poliakoff, made the homophobic rant last week in a “reply all” email to more than 170 attorneys and legal professionals in response to a firm-wide announcement regarding a federal court ruling declaring Florida’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.
The website Above the Law broke the story and published Kubitz’s entire email, in which Kubitz blamed homosexuality for the “reckless trashing of morality” which has “led to increase in sexually transmitted disease over the past few decades, with the gay plague of AIDS being a classic example.”
Following is the text of Kubitz’ email:
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Subject: New Decision: Same Sex Marriage (Brenner v. Scott)
Date: Mon, Aug 25, 2014 7:18 AMThe issue having been raised, permit me the liberty to reply, lest my usual silence be taken as assent.
Judge Hinkle says that the Florida ban on same-sex marriage violates the 14th Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection clauses. However, there is not a shred of historical evidence that either of those clauses was ever intended to legitimize homosexuality.
Judge Hinkle and others like-minded have effectively amended the Constitution by judicial fiat. This is a blatant usurpation of power reserved to the States and to the people in violation of the 10th Amendment. The better handling of the issue is as exemplified by Baker v. Nelson, 409 U.S. 810 (1972), in which the U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn a Minnesota ban on same-sex marriage “for want of a substantial federal question.”
Adding insult to injury, Judge Hinkle invokes our founding fathers as though they would have approved of his ruling. Not so. In his 1796 farewell address then-president George Washington spoke of morality as being indispensable to our societal well-being.
Today’s reckless trashing of morality has been damaging on many fronts. For one, there has been a significant increase in sexually transmitted disease over the past few decades, with the gay plague of AIDS being a classic example.
We would do well to heed the Proverbs 11:21 warning of our ultimate Judge: “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.” In other words, popularity does not trump peril.
Homosexuality, clearly condemned throughout Scripture, is especially perilous in that it tends toward the “reprobate mind” as spoken of in Romans 1:18-32 that makes its participants all the more hardened in their ways. The message to the homosexual, as to all, is “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found . . .” (Isaiah 55:6).
Wally Kubitz
Former managing partner Alan Becker told the Daily Business Review it’s not clear whether Kubitz intended to hit reply all, or whether he meant to write to just one lawyer.
The law firm declined to comment on specifics regarding its “immediate and severe” action, and there has been no change to Kubitz’ bio on the law firm’s website.
