Should a Lesbian Judge Excuse Herself from Cases that Involve LGBT Issues?

That is the question that is being asked in Dayton Ohio where a political opponent thinks that she should.

Challenger questions gay judge's ethics
By Lynn Hulsey
Dayton Daily News
Staff Writer
Thursday, January 17, 2008

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman, who is openly gay, should excuse herself from cases involving the state constitutional ban on gay marriage and Dayton's new law banning discrimination against gays, her Democratic primary opponent says.
Montgomery County Area Court Judge James D. Piergies cited Wiseman's role in writing an earlier, failed version of the anti-discrimination law when she was a Dayton city commissioner in 1999. He said it would create an ethical problem as well if she were to consider cases involving the Ohio constitutional amendment that passed in 2004.
Wiseman, who was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland to replace retiring Judge John Kessler, said the fact that she is Ohio's first openly gay judge should be encouraging to other gay people. But she said it will play no role in how she considers cases, including those involving gay rights, because judges must be impartial in applying the law.

My question to Judge Piergies is does he feel that straight judges should also excuse themselves from cases involving LGBT issues? After all, they could be basis against LGBT issues. Or should a women judge excuse themselves if the cases involves a woman?

Wiseman took issue with Piergies' remarks, which were made during an editorial board meeting at the Dayton Daily News.

"If that were the rule, then Thurgood Marshall would never have presided over a civil rights case," Wiseman said.

Piergies said the situation was different for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Marshall, who more than a decade prior to being named to the court, argued the civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education. But after acknowledging Marshall's support of civil rights prior to joining the court, Piergies then said perhaps Marshall should have recused himself from such cases.

I do not see a difference; to me it seems that Judge Piergies is trying to use homophobia to win votes.