Smith Recording on Gay Adoption Confirms What We Already Know

In the past week, US Rep. Christopher H. Smith received the worst press he’s had in his entire career. While Smith has tried to portray himself as a victim, he can’t escape reality. The reason he’s facing a firestorm is because this week’s news confirms what we already know about Smith: he doesn’t believe in equal rights for the LGBTQ community.

Smith, in his toughest re-election fight since 1982 against Navy veteran Josh Welle, has tried a classic deflection strategy when he says political dirty tricks are behind the story that appeared in the Washington Blade, which revealed him telling high school students that gay and lesbian couples are less suited than straight couples to adopt children. His meandering response suggested children might be better off in orphanages than with a loving LGBTQ family. Smith is stunned that the story took flight the way it did. But he shouldn’t be. Reporters from New Jersey and beyond jumped on it because it’s so consistent with what we know about Smith, who has said that he does “not construe homosexual rights as human rights.”

If you’ve somehow missed the story—which even made it into Stephen Colbert’s monologue—let’s catch up: On September 12, the Washington Blade, which reports on LGBTQ issues, published a recording of Smith talking to students at Colts Neck High School on May 29. The story featured an interview with student Hannah Valdes, who had circled back with Smith on his earlier remarks about the ability of gay couples to adopt. Valdes, whose sister is gay, asked Smith point blank why he thought her sister was less worthy of being able to adopt a child. Smith wouldn’t answer Valdes and a classmate directly, and then pivoted back to an earlier reference, saying “orphanages are still a possibility for some kids.”

The story took off like a rocket. The Welle campaign shared it widely on social media and with supporters, and outlets in New Jersey and Washington, DC., picked it up.

After hours of silence, Smith began to push back, and he provided a recording of the full 53-minute session. Smith said an exchange prior to the one published by the Blade shows his remarks were taken out of context, and he accused the Blade and the Welle campaign of selective editing. Some media outlets updated their stories to reflect Smith’s pushback.

But Smith’s charges fall apart under scrutiny:

• A close listen shows it's highly unlikely the two recordings were made by the same person. Hannah Valdes is barely audible in the recording from Smith’s team, but she’s loud and clear in version obtained by the Blade.
• Valdes made it clear in her interview that the recording obtained by the Blade picks up after Smith's earlier comments on gay adoption. She was following up because when Smith was asked about a 1999 bill he supported to ban federal funds for gay adoption in the District of Columbia, he said his views had not changed. Smith confirmed this.
• In both recordings, when Valdes presses Smith about why her sister and a partner would be less worthy parents than a straight couple, the congressman inexplicably circles back to a comment about orphanages. To Valdes and her classmates, the inference was clear. (Apparently the faculty member in the room thought Smith was wading onto shaky ground, too, because the longer recording shows he abruptly changed the subject.)

A more plausible explanation? It makes sense that Smith’s team recorded the entire Colts Neck visit; that’s basic staff work. And it also makes sense that whoever was sitting with Valdes would not initially bother to capture Smith’s comments. But once Smith started making statements about LGBTQ families that these high schoolers found unacceptable, someone made sure to record his final exchange with Valdes. (For her part, Valdes has strongly denied the Blade recording was doctored.)

So far, gay rights groups and the Star-Ledger’s Drew Sheneman aren’t impressed with Smith's Gay Adoption, Extended Play. That version tells us that if given the opportunity to restrict LGBTQ adoption rights, Smith would do it again. And he spreads lies to high school students that studies support his outdated thinking, when in fact, the consensus in the literature is clear that children raised by LGBTQ parents do just as well as everyone else. Rather than exonerate Smith, the longer recording just digs the hole deeper.

Welle, wisely, has focused on the only question that matters: how is Smith still our congressman in 2018? Smith should stop trying to blame his opponent, the Blade, or anyone else for the bad press he's getting and instead examine his own record.

It seems Smith can't acknowledge that the Blade story resonated because he has never treated the LBGTQ community with dignity. If New Jersey or DC reporters were told a similar recording existed involving fellow Republican US Reps. Leonard Lance or Tom MacArthur, you’d bet they’d hit pause, because it simply wouldn’t ring true.

Finally, Smith’s whining fails when the Blade reports it gave Smith every chance to weigh in on the story, but he refused. Someone should ask Smith if he was so concerned about being misrepresented, why didn’t he share his audio with the Blade before the story appeared? How about at least talk to their reporter? Blade editor Kevin Naff told The Hill that it’s “telling that Smith’s campaign has declined to respond to Blade requests for comment, yet reached out to other mainstream outlets directly to dispute our reporting.

“To reach out to us would mean acknowledging the existence of the LGBT media," Naff said, "something we know Smith won’t do.”