Virginia Lawyer Faces Severe Action After Calling AIDS "Gay Plague"

Responding to Florida's decision to lift the ban on same-sex marriage last month, a Virginia lawyer emailed his entire law firm of more than 170 attorneys to let them know that he was disgusted by the legitimization of homosexuality, especially given that the "gay plague of AIDS" should have shown us all better by now. As a result, the man's employer has taken "immediate and severe" action.

Pink News reports that Walter Kubitz, a senior lawyer at Becker and Poliakoff send the August 25 email "lest my usual silence be taken as assent."

Kubitz argues that there is "not a shred of historical evidence" that Florida's ban on same-sex marriage violated the 14th Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection clauses, as Judge Robert Hinkle found last month.

At that time, Pink News had reported that Hinkle ruled the 2008 voter-approved ban was in violation of equal protection and due process, but immediately stayed his ruling pending appeals, meaning no same-sex marriages would occur presently.

Despite the stay, Kubitz was apparently incensed by the decision, letting his coworkers know that Hinkle had "amended the Constitution by judicial fiat," as part and parcel of the overall degradation of American values.

"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," wrote Kubitz, before predictably quoting scripture about punishing the wicked and reprobate minds.

The firm said that it has taken "immediate and severe" action over the email, which is found "reprehensible" and "inappropriate and would not be tolerated."

"The email infuriated me," said Ken Direktor, a member of Becker & Poliakoff's management committee, as reported on RawStory. "I've been here 28 years, and we promote and support a work environment that's diverse and collegial. An email as divisive as this runs directly contrary to the core values of the firm."

And Above The Law reports that this old school homophobic rant is not only bigoted, but is "incredibly stupid" to the point of being quaint.

Reporter Elie Mystal notes of the potentially career-ending email, "I don't know why Kubitz was moved to speak on the matter given that he works out of Becker's Virginia office and it doesn't appear that Becker was involved in the case in any way."

"Is this 1982?" she asked. "Was this email written on a typewriter? ...Calling AIDS the 'gay plague' is a classic example all right -- the classic example of something a rank idiot says.... This isn't an email about gay marriage. This is a freaking departure memo. Or at least it should be."