Okay, I don’t know how many of you are going to remember this. But back during Obama’s first SCOTUS fight, when this blog was only a few months old, a spokesperson for the religious right group Focus on the Family told me that the group could support a gay nominee, an assertion that cheered gay activists.

“The issue is not their sexual orientation,” the spokesperson told me then. “It’s whether they are a good judge or not. It’s not even pertinent to the equation.”

That post, it turns out, caused quite a stir in religious right circles. And now the group has rather abruptly backtracked, releasing a new statement along these lines:

“We can assure you that we recognize that homosexual behavior is a sin and does not reflect God’s created intent and desire for humanity. Further, we at Focus do affirm that character and moral rectitude should be key considerations in appointing members of the judiciary, especially in the case of the highest court in the land. Sexual behavior — be it heterosexual or homosexual — certainly lies at the heart of personal morality.”

I wanted a bit more on this. So I asked the author of this statement, Tom Minnery, a senior vice president with the group, how this backtracking came about.

“I don’t think it’s correct to say we’re backtracking,” he told me. “We didn’t get it right the first time.”

Asked if the new statement meant that being homosexual is a deal-breaker, Minnery replied: “Someone who is a practicing homosexual is a non starter for the group.” Asked if this was the case no matter what the person’s views, he replied: “That’s correct.”

Pretty unequivocal. Now, as Steve Benen notes, there was always reason to be a bit skeptical of the group’s initial openness to supporting a gay SCOTUS nominee. But the group’s willingness to go on record at all along those lines had some gay activists glimpsing a possible cultural sea change way out there on the horizon.

Looks like that moment remains a long way off.

Original posting: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/supreme-court/religious-right-group-we-cant-support-gay-scotus-no-matter-what-her-views-are/