• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Body
  • Daily Resist
  • POLITICS
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Film
  • TV
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Men
  • Marriage Equality
  • Space
  • Trans Rights
  • Books
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • TowleREAD

Fortune Interviews Chief Justice John Roberts’ Lesbian Cousin

January 20, 2011 by Andy Towle

Michael Petrelis notes a recent Fortune magazine profile of Chief Justice John Roberts in which his lesbian cousin is interviewed:

Fortune

Roberts is also likely to vote like a conservative if the Court eventually hears the constitutional showdown that Goldstein considers "possibly the case of the century": the challenge to the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative forbidding gay marriage.

Numerous gay-rights cases are now working their way through the lower courts, challenging, for instance, the federal Defense of Marriage Act (which says that if gay marriage is allowed in one state, other states and the federal government need not recognize those marriages) and state laws restricting gay adoption. The Prop 8 case will be the toughest case for the gay-rights side to win, Goldstein explains, because it asks the Court to do the most: Strike down a definition of marriage that has prevailed for most of the country's history and that is still used in all but a handful of states.

"On the one hand," says Goldstein, "is the Supreme Court going to get out in front, when the right hasn't yet been extended by many states? On the other hand, you could say, is the Supreme Court going to have this as its legacy — something where 25 years, 50 years, 75 years later, we'll look back and say, How could we have been so mindless in our hatred? What do you want history books to say?"

At Roberts' confirmation hearings, one of the members of his family that he introduced to the Senators was a cousin named Jean Podrasky.

"I don't know John that well," says Podrasky, 46, in an interview with Fortune, "but he's always been very kind to our family." Roberts gave her a personal tour of the White House as a high school graduation present, she remembers.

Podrasky is gay, as Roberts knows, she says. She lives in San Francisco with her longtime girlfriend. Would she like to be able to get married someday?

"Yes."

Has she ever discussed —

"I really would never disrespect him by asking him about his cases," Podrasky says, interrupting.

Most Supreme Court advocates focus on Justice Kennedy as the likely pivotal vote in the gay-rights cases. But might Roberts also be persuaded to rule that homosexuals have the same right to get married that heterosexuals do?

"No," Goldstein says. "The Chief Justice can say, 'I certainly don't agree with this differential treatment, but this is a social institution that has existed throughout the nation's history, and I'm not going to go so far as to invalidate it.'"

We can also hope that Roberts might draw on his own family's situations when thinking about marriage cases.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Federal Prop 8 Trial, gay marriage, John Roberts, News, proposition 8

Recent Posts

  • Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

    Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

    12 hours ago
  • Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

    Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

    14 hours ago
  • It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

    It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

    15 hours ago
  • Maskless Leopard Print ‘Karen’ Goes Down Shrieking at Palm Beach Bagel Shop: WATCH

    Maskless Leopard Print ‘Karen’ Goes Down Shrieking at Palm Beach Bagel Shop: WATCH

    2 days ago
Previous Post: « Watch: Lady Who Fell into Fountain While Texting May Sue!
Next Post: Watch: New Lady Gaga Song for House of Mugler Official Video »

Primary Sidebar

  • Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

  • Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

  • It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

Recent Posts

  • Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

    Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

    12 hours ago
  • Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

    Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

    14 hours ago
  • It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

    It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

    15 hours ago
  • Maskless Leopard Print ‘Karen’ Goes Down Shrieking at Palm Beach Bagel Shop: WATCH

    Maskless Leopard Print ‘Karen’ Goes Down Shrieking at Palm Beach Bagel Shop: WATCH

    2 days ago
  • Pete Buttigieg Confirmation Hearing Scheduled for Thursday

    Pete Buttigieg Confirmation Hearing Scheduled for Thursday

    2 days ago
  • Married Lincoln Project Co-Founder John Weaver Admits Sending Sexually Inappropriate Texts to Male Job Applicants, Says He’s Gay

    Married Lincoln Project Co-Founder John Weaver Admits Sending Sexually Inappropriate Texts to Male Job Applicants, Says He’s Gay

    2 days ago
  • Bill Maher Shoots Down Kellyanne Conway’s Defense of Trump’s Legacy, That Many Folks Are Better Off: ‘A Lot of Them Are Dead!’ — WATCH

    Bill Maher Shoots Down Kellyanne Conway’s Defense of Trump’s Legacy, That Many Folks Are Better Off: ‘A Lot of Them Are Dead!’ — WATCH

    2 days ago
  • Ralph Lauren Drops 7-Year Sponsorship of Pro Golfer Justin Thomas Over Homophobic Slur

    Ralph Lauren Drops 7-Year Sponsorship of Pro Golfer Justin Thomas Over Homophobic Slur

    2 days ago
  • James Lankford, Dolly Parton, Vaccine Rollout, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Palm Beach, The Big Lie, Joshua Bassett: HOT LINKS

    James Lankford, Dolly Parton, Vaccine Rollout, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Palm Beach, The Big Lie, Joshua Bassett: HOT LINKS

    2 days ago
  • Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Takes Down QAnon GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert After Accusations He Named Her as Member Who Gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of US Capitol Ahead of Trump Insurrection

    Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Takes Down QAnon GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert After Accusations He Named Her as Member Who Gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of US Capitol Ahead of Trump Insurrection

    3 days ago

Most Commented

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Footer

Copyright © 2021 · Log in