1990: Joe Biden Proposed Hypothetical of ‘Homosexuals Engaging in a Sexual Act’ on American Flag
During a debate in 1990 about a constitutional amendment that would ban burning the American flag, then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) proposed a bizarre hypothetical to illustrate why he thought it was a slippery slope.
“Parts of the American public occasionally responding to the emotions of the moment; occasionally, occasionally, they pass laws that don’t make sense in the wide scope of things,” Biden said on the Senate floor on June 25, 1990. He went on:
We went through a whole exercise here with Mapplethorpe’s paintings and the National Endowment for the Arts, and they related to paintings – photographs that had to do with homosexual activity. I ask you, assume that there were a painting or a photograph taken of homosexuals engaging in a sexual act on a flag.
Biden argued a constitutional amendment would be the gateway to regulating expression. He said:
Would that be desecrating the flag under this amendment? Let me ask you, does anyone doubt that there might not be at least a few members of this body that would introduce an amendment to the law? We can amend this 99 times, once we pass the constitutional amendment, we can pass any law we want.
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