In his page A51 November 7 column, "Voting on same-sex marriage, with the Book of Leviticus ringing in my ears," the Washington Post's Courtland Milloy explained how, as a child raised in the "Bible Belt during the 1950s with that Old-Time Religion," he's still haunted by "Leviticus, that strong-arm book of the Bible that for years has tried to dictate my thoughts and actions through fear and guilt and on Tuesday dogged my every step to the polls."
What followed was Milloy recounting his consultations with two liberal theological influences in the local African-American community who helped convince him that voting for same-sex marriage was biblically kosher. He also tossed in a conservative black pastor who was quickly derided as a biblical literalist who is "not literate" in the estimation of a Howard Divinity professor. But at the very close of his column, Milloy rather gratuitously dropped in something that suggests he was struggling with lusting in his heart after President Obama's wife:
In other words, whether or not a gay couple can marry is really none of my business. And I certainly wasn’t going to vote to stop them.
That settled, I began admiring a photograph of Michelle Obama on some campaign literature: She had a radiant smile and seemed to be staring back at me, audacious in a sleeveless black dress and . . . wouldn’t you know it: Leviticus pops up in my head, warning me, “Don’t even go there.”
But that’s not what I was thinking, honest to God.
Too much information, Mr. Milloy.
