National Organization For Marriage co-founder Robert P. George just posted a photo of himself with the nation’s newest Supreme Court Justice, Amy Coney Barrett, calling her “my favorite Handmaiden of the Law.” NOM is the anti-LGBTQ anti-marriage equality organization that conservatives had poured millions into in the hope it would stanch the spread of same-sex marriage.
George’s remarks are apparently meant to mock Americans’ deep and dire fears and concerns about Justice Barrett, a far right religious extremist who vehemently opposes abortion, same-sex marriage, equality for LGBTQ people, and ObamaCare. She is seen as the most far-right jurist on the Supreme Court, even more extreme than Justice Clarence Thomas.
The “Handmaiden” reference is to Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which is set in what was once New England, now part the fictional totalitarian, Christian nation of Gilead, created after an overthrow of the United States. In the novel, which is also a film and a television series, women are not allowed to read or participate in much of society, and are forced to serve men much in the way the Bible commands. Rape is institutionalized and homosexuality is punishable by death.
George is a Princeton University professor. He is also the co-founder and a senior fellow at the Witherspoon Institute, a conservative think tank that focuses its efforts on opposing same-sex marriage, abortion, and stem cell research.
Barrett was forced through the confirmation process in near-record time, as conservatives praised the far right wing anti-LGBTQ, anti-equality, pro-religious extremism jurist. She was confirmed by Republican Senators Monday night, and barely hours later sworn in at the White House.