Does it matter if Judge Walker, who found Prop 8 unconstitutional, is gay?

Judge Walker, who recently retired from his post as a ninth circuit judge, publicly acknowledged on April 6 that he is gay. Judge Walker found Prop 8 unconstitutional when the issue came to his court, and some advocates against gay marriage claim his own sexuality biased his decision in the case. The president and founder of the conservative Liberty Counsel, Mathew Staver, objected to Judge Walker’s ruling in the Prop 8 case and now claims that Walker’s decision was biased by the fact that he stood to benefit from the legalization of same-sex marriage. 

A less vehement observation comes from a 2010 Wall Street Journal article: "But is Walker’s sexual orientation relevant to the trial? Frankly, it’s hard to see how it’s not, especially if you believe that the opinions of judges, try as they might to divorce their personal opinions from their rulings, are invariably colored and informed by their own experiences, just like the rest of us." Still, they don't go so far as to say Judge Walker's sexuality rendered him unable to provide an unbiased verdict.

A Gawker article, also from 2010 (when speculation about Walker's sexuality was floating around), asserts, "Judge Walker's sexuality is irrelevant. Assuming gay judges always side with other gays...is a flawed logic that assumes neutrality lies with heterosexuals (or whites, or males). Sexuality and identity are inescapable; you could just as easily argue that a straight judge will be biased because all straights secretly fear gays." So our options are: Yes, it matters that Judge Walker is gay, and it biased his opinion in the case; Yes, it's a factor, but it probably didn't bias his opinion; and no, his sexuality is irrelevant. What do you think? Does it matter if Judge Walker is gay?

Eleanor Brown