Imagine, if you will, the following scenario. You are in the Jim Crow South. You are in a courtroom as a party to a lawsuit. You are black. Your judge has actively campaigned for segregation.

How certain are you that you will get justice from the bench?

Fast forward to the very near future, in January 2008, when this exact scenario will play out in Brooklyn, one of the constituent parts of the shining global metropolis that is New York City. Except that, in keeping with the most current prejudices, you need to be gay or lesbian to face this disquieting perspective, should you wind up in the courtroom of one Noach Dear [1], who recently prevailed in a primary battle for a civil court seat.

Dear, of course, led the opposition to New York City's gay rights bill; was the only member of the Brooklyn City Council delegation to vote against the 1998 domestic partnership bill; and, in an abortive Congressional run as a republican against Anthony Weiner, had the latter's speeches in favor of LGBT equality taped and then replayed to Orthodox audiences. As bigots go, he is nothing if not consistent; so perhaps it's not a surprise [2] that he's also done business with Apartheid-era South Africa. In that context, it's particularly ironic that, while running in a black-majority district for state Senate, he called himself Noah and pretended to be black [3].

Noach, or Noah depending on which voters he courts, is currently a commissioner with the Taxi and Limousine Commission, a post to which he was appointed by none other than Rudy Giuliani; which may perhaps explain [4] why half the funds he raised for his state office run came from taxi and limousine companies, which of course rely on his regulatory functions to shape their business environment. This time around, however, there's no indication that he received forty seven sequentially numbered money orders that turned out to not have been made out by the people listed on them as donors, as happened in the above-mentioned Congressional race.

Alan Fleischman, an out district leader in Brooklyn, sums up the problem neatly [5]:

"It is outrageous that Noach Dear claims to have honesty and integrity. He is a notorious anti-choice, homophobic bigot who led the fight against the 1986 NY City Council Gay Rights bill and doesn't have the basic fairness and judicial temperament to serve on the Civil Court bench.

It is questionable why anyone in their right mind would support him for judge."

This is the man who was endorsed [6] by the following elected officials, all Democrats:

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz
Democratic County Leader and Assemblyman Vito Lopez
Assemblyman Dov Hikind
Councilmember Vincent Gentile
Councilmember Dominic Recchia
Councilmember Kendall Stewart
State Senator Diane Savino

The price for Noach Dear's elevation to a judgeship will be paid by gay and lesbian New Yorkers, who have cause to doubt that Dear will adjudicate their cases fairly from the bench. This is not a doubt anyone should have in New York City in 2008. As a society, we have moved past this - except when it proves expedient to some Democrats to sacrifice the civil rights and due process of LGBT New Yorkers for whichever goals they happen to be pursuing at the time.

Make no mistake: this isn't just about LGBT New Yorkers, though for Progressives, that alone is cause to be outraged. This is about the core principles of Progressivism, which hold, among other things, that civil rights are indivisible and that the hateful, divisive politics of bigotry promoted by Dear have no place in our society. Nor is it imaginable that Dear, had he campaigned and voted against, say, civil equality for African-Americans, women or Jews, would have found endorsers willing to lend their good name to his efforts. Given that Dear prevailed in the primary [7] by 3,776 to 2,554 votes, his endorsers, fully cognizant as they are of the value of endorsements in delivering votes, can fairly be blamed for every miscarriage of justice that will take place in that courtroom, and for every bit of apprehension that any LGBT New Yorker will have there.

Unsurprisingly, LGBT Democrats are dismayed [8] at this betrayal.

Aside from his anti-gay record, Mr. Dear was the only judicial primary candidate who failed to receive the approval of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, which said he failed to “affirmatively demonstrate that he possesses the requisite qualifications for the court for which he is a candidate.” The judiciary should never be a dumping ground for failed politicians, especially those who have had such notable legal and ethical problems of their own.

We will be keeping an eye on Mr. Dear to make sure all people who come before Judge Dear will be treated with fairness and decency. And we will remember those who shamelessly supported him.

If this is a sacrifice that Democrats are willing to bring, it's entirely legitimate to ask what's going to be placed on the alter of expedience next. New Yorkers have cause to be apprehensive about the answer to that question.

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