I read in wonderment this morning the absurd comments made by Justice Scalia in which he equated homosexuality to murder. It's all a big joke to get under your skin so he can make a point about his feeling against gays.

Are you laughing yet?

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia compared homosexuality and murder on Monday as he argued at a Princeton seminar that elected bodies should be allowed to regulate actions they see as immoral. "If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?" Scalia said, according to The Associated Press.

The justice's comments are sure to draw attention with the Supreme Court set to enter the debate over gay marriage in its coming term.
Scalia was asked about controversial comments he had made in the past that argued that the constitutionality of subjects like the death penalty, abortion or sodomy laws were all "easy" to decide by considering the Constitution as understood by its writers.

Scalia said that while he did not believe such hyperbole was "necessary," he did think it was "effective" in forwarding his argument that legislatures should be allowed to ban acts they believe to be immoral.

"It's a form of argument that I thought you would have known, which is called the 'reduction to the absurd,' " Scalia said.

Scalia said he did not equate homosexuality morally with murder, but was making a point about the state's ability to regulate them.

"I'm surprised you aren't persuaded," he deadpanned to the audience member who asked him about his views.

With such cruelty on display by a sitting conservative Supreme Court Justice -- especially the man who is considered one of the leading intellectual lights of the conservative bloc of the Court, and the conservative movement generally -- it's no surprise that the same behavior repeatedly shows itself throughout the conservative universe. We know how Scalia will vote regarding the two new cases Chief Roberts has decided to take this year -- one on the Defense of Marriage Act and the other on California's Prop 8.

Society as a whole has long ago given up its persecution of gays for being who they are, but granting certain rights has been an uphill battle and homophobic strands still run deep. You would hope that a Supreme Court Justice might alleviate these tensions instead of exacerbating them. But it's Scalia.