HRC WELCOMES NEWS OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REVERSAL OF DISCRIMINATORY BAN ON EMPLOYEE GAY PRIDE EVENT

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign welcomed news today that the Department of Justice is reversing its decision to ban its annual gay pride event. However, the event will not enjoy the sponsorship of the department as it has in the past, and as other events currently do.

Officials at DOJ Pride, the department’s voluntary group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, were told last week that they would be prohibited from holding their annual pride event at the department. HRC joined several other GLBT advocacy groups and Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in decrying the discriminatory ban.

“We are pleased that the DOJ has reversed their decision of the all-out ban on the on-site gay pride event,” said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg. “However, the new policy is still a step backward as DOJ Pride is being treated differently than it was in the past, and unequally from other agency groups who have the full sponsorship of the department. This policy marginalizes the department’s GLBT employees.”

Last year’s DOJ Pride event featured a department-sponsored speech by Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson to roughly 150 employees in the Great Hall. DOJ officials claimed that this year’s event would be disallowed because the White House had not issued a proclamation acknowledging gay pride month. There was no proclamation from the president prior to last year’s event either.

“Attorney General Ashcroft promised in his confirmation hearing that he would not discriminate against DOJ Pride when it was politically expedient, but he made a very serious attempt to go back on his word in canceling this celebration,” said Stachelberg.During Attorney General John Ashcroft’s nomination hearing to head the department, Feingold asked him if he planned to discriminate against gay and lesbian employees or DOJ Pride.

“I would not tolerate discrimination against any employee at the Department of Justice based on sexual preference,” said Ashcroft. “I have no intent to … treat this group differently than any other.”

In a letter sent to the attorney general today, Feingold calledon Ashcroft to honor his word.

“Congress and the American people expect the Attorney General toensure equal treatment and equal protection for all Americans,” wroteFeingold. “I urge you to reverse the Department’s decision immediatelyand allow DOJ Pride to use Department facilities to hold meetings andevents.”

For the full text of Feingold’s letter, please visit:

www.hrc.org.

Other federal agencies, including the State Department, which isheaded by Secretary of State Collin Powell, are holding similar prideevents that enjoy full departmental support.

WCT June 11, 2003: Justice Nixes Gay Pride

by Bob Roehr

Gay and lesbian employees at the U.S. Department of Justice have been told that they cannot hold their annual pride awards ceremony at the Department. It marks the first time that has happened at any federal agency in recent history. Organizers remain optimistic that the matter can be resolved before the June 18 date of the event.

Marina Colby, president of DOJ Pride, said she ‘received a letter at the end of May from the Equal Employment Opportunity office saying that there would be no pride event, and I need to talk with them.’

Because there was no presidential proclamation declaring gay pride, and none from the Attorney General, John Ashcroft’s office had ruled that the event could not take place at the Department.

‘I’m really surprised that it was canceled because we had been working with the EEO staff, we have already selected the annual award recipients and the date was confirmed. And then to get this decision was a real shock,’ said Colby.

She noted that the event had taken place for five years, weathering the transition to the Bush administration. Last year Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, the second in command at DOJ, addressed about 150 people at the pride event. She said, ‘We were thankful last year that we had the level of support.’ However, it had brought criticism from some on the far right.

‘We find it unconscionable that the agency charged with defending civil rights in this country is denying equal access to our community,’ said Colby. She and others are working to reverse the decision.

The first story appeared in The New York Times on June 6. It prompted Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, to send a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft inquiring of the decision and reminding him of testimony at his confirmation hearing when Ashcroft said, ‘I would not tolerate discrimination against any employee at the Department of Justice based on sexual preference.’

The White House is backing up the decision. ‘The President believes everybody ought to be treated with dignity and respect, but he does not believe we should be politicizing people’s sexual orientation,’ said spokesman Scott McClellan. It was a line straight out of position papers by folks on the anti-gay right.

‘Mr. Ashcroft pays lip service to equality and tolerance when it is politically expedient, but his actions are not consistent with his pledge not to discriminate,’ said Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign. ‘The Attorney General should be protecting the Bill of Rights, of denying rights to his own employees.’

‘Banning this event is unfair and unjust,’ said Patrick Guerriero, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans. ‘It is inconsistent with the freedom of expression granted to gay and lesbian employees in other federal agencies.’ Conservative Andrew Sullivan labeled it ‘a clear and petty attempt to inform gay civil servants that they are second-class citizens and second-class employees.’

Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America, applauded that idea. ‘The government, and taxpayers, should not be in the business of promoting homosexuality. It’s time for all other federal agencies to stop funding or endorsing similar ‘gay pride’ events.’

‘The inequality with which federal employees are now being treated is quite extraordinary,’ said Leonard Hirsch, president of Federal GLOBE, the broader association of federal GLBT employees. ‘It appears to be driven much more by the personal beliefs of the senior administrator in the department’ than by government policy.

To Hirsch, a presidential proclamation ‘is symbolically important … and it is [necessary] exactly to make sure that this sort of manipulation does not occur.’

Hirsch found it ironic that ‘an administration that says that they are supposed to take the best from the private sector turns its back on its own employees,’ even while the private sector increasingly is embracing gay-friendly policies.

‘We want the right policy standardized across agencies,’ said Hirsch. ‘We want to make certain that the federal workplace is one of the best in the world … . We want to make certain that the employees are welcomed and treasured as they ought to be.’

Colby and Hirsch are encouraged by the volume of e-mail support they have received from gay and straight colleagues working within the DOJ and other federal agencies. She said, ‘We want to be able to hold our annual awards ceremony in the Great Hall, and we want to be treated like every other employee group, we don’t want special treatment, we want equal treatment.’

Hirsch is confident the DOJ Pride event will take place. ‘If it isn’t at the Department of Justice, it will be elsewhere. We will remind the government, both the civil service and the political appointees, that they are representatives of the American people, and that includes everyone, including the lesbian, gay, and transgender community.’