News Flash: Wait, Prop 8 Trial’s Judge Vaughn Walker Is Gay?

According to AKA William:

Today, the San Francisco Chronicle outed Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, the man presiding over the federal challenge to Prop 8, saying that Walker’s gayness is the biggest open secret of the trial:

Many gay politicians in San Francisco and lawyers who have had dealings with Walker say the 65-year-old jurist, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never taken pains to disguise – or advertise – his orientation.

. . . “There is nothing about Walker as a judge to indicate that his sexual orientation, other than being an interesting factor, will in any way bias his view,” said Kate Kendell, head of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is supporting the lawsuit to overturn Prop. 8.

The Chronicle spoke to Walker and asked Walker if he had any concerns about being characterized as gay. His response: “No comment.”

However, the Chronicle also spoke to another federal judge, a friend of Walker, about Walker’s sexuality:

“He has a private life and he doesn’t conceal it, but doesn’t think it is relevant to his decisions in any case, and he doesn’t bring it to bear in any decisions,” said the judge, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the Prop. 8 trial.

“Is it newsworthy?” he said of Walker’s orientation, and laughed. “Yes.”