Reformed anti-gay activist Stephen Dunne returns to Gayville this week. The law student caught our eye – and ire – last year when he sued the Massachusetts State Bar Association for including a gay marriage question on the would-be lawyer’s exam. Dunne refused to answer the question, which cost him the test and then promptly sued for religious discrimination. Dunne later withdrew his case.
Dunne’s given the matter much thought over the past few months and wrote to Bay Windows explaining that his lawsuit was “misguided” and he was simply “lashing out”. The staffers at Bay Windows were so intrigued by Dunne’s turnaround that they dispatched Laura Kiritsy to dig into Dunne. Here’s a sample of their exchange:
Q: Did you hear from [your] when you filed the lawsuit?
A: There’s a lot of gay people I know that don’t know what I did. And you know obviously I’m not going to bring it up today because to a large degree I don’t want them to know because I’m embarrassed at what I did. They’re great people, they’re great parents, they’re educated people, they’re professionals. I have a lot of respect for them. Once you become friends with people it’s hard not to respect them, to change your opinion, change your direction of your previously preconceived notions that were incorrect.
Irishman Dunne also says that past discrimination against his ancestors helped bring him back to reality. He’s currently studying for the bar exam. We’ll done, Dunne!
mozzer13
It should be pointed out that skipping that one question didn’t cost him the bar exam so much as missing most of the other questions. I would like to think the apology is sincere, but his suit, demonstrating his complete lack of knowledge of the law, was so high-profile that it likely turned off a lot of employers. Except for the Bush administration, of course…they don’t seem to mind third-rate lawyers from fourth-tier schools as long as they believe in Jeebus.
Tim in SF
“Did you hear from [your] when you filed the lawsuit” ? WTF kind of question is that?
Fix the question before you post it.
John
I wonder if he’s worried about being found ethically unfit to practice law. Becoming a licensed lawyer requires more than just passing the bar exam, you have to show that you don’t have bad character. If you’re going around spouting homophobia you’ve got a good chance of being denied a license.
I hope he is sincere in his change!