WASHINGTON, June 5 — The Justice Department has barred a group of employees from holding their annual gay pride event at the department’s headquarters, the first time such an event has been blocked by any federal agency, gay rights leaders said today. Justice Department officials told the group, called DOJ Pride, that it could not hold its annual event at the department because the White House had not formally recognized Gay Pride Month with a presidential proclamation, Marina Colby, a department policy analyst who is president of the group, said. The group represents several hundred gay and lesbian employees at the department. “This sends a real chilling message to Justice Department employees who are gay and lesbian,” said David Smith, a spokesman for Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest gay advocacy group. "This says, `You’re not welcome,’ " Mr. Smith said. “It says that employees can celebrate Asian-American heritage month, and Hispanic heritage month and so on, but you cannot.”
The gay pride event has been a tradition at the Justice Department since the late 90’s, organizers said, and many other federal agencies have held similar events since the mid-1990’s, when President Bill Clinton first declared a Gay Pride Month. Public Advocate, a nonprofit group that describes itself as pro-family, has continued lobbying the Justice Department and other federal agencies in recent months to abandon the gay pride events because it says the events are an inappropriate use of federal resources, said Jesse Binnall, a group spokesman. Told of the decision to cancel this year’s Justice Department event, Mr. Binnall said today, “We’re absolutely thrilled that the Justice Department has made such a bold decision to stand up for American families instead of giving in to special interest groups.”
Mr. Bush has issued more than 250 proclamations, acknowledging events like Greek Independence Day, Leif Erikson Day, Save Your Vision Week and National Hospice Month. This is the first time any federal agency has forced the cancellation of a gay pride event, Mr. Smith said.
Once again I feel the incredible guilt of being a Republican and am compelled to apologize on behalf of the more fu…-witted members currently in charge.
I’m sorry that the Justice Dept. banned this event. I disagree with the banning and I think their excuse was bullshit.
Their stance is quite different from the Republican Party’s recent efforts to be more gay-friendly,. E.g., Party Chairman Mark Racicot recently met with gay groups (although he was criticized for it by the party’s neanderthal wing.)
Note a bit of spin in the cited article: “The gay pride event has been a tradition at the Justice Department since the late 90’s, organizers said…” It’s a bit of an exaggeration to use the word “tradition” to describe something that has only occurred a few times.
Huh? Do they mean that it only counts if Bush declared one, or was Clinton’s only good for that one year? If the former, I hope that Bush has busily issued declarations for everything else, including Christmas and other holidays.
But hey, if you’re here in the DC area, you can still roll out this weekend to Pennsylvania Ave.–in the pouring rain, no doubt–to participate in the Capital Pride Festival. Usually about 200,000 people show up. By coincidence or design the main Justice Department building is right there. I wouldn’t advise expressing your discontent there.
Back in '01 one of the President’s helicopters made a pass up the length of Pennsylvania Ave. during the festival. “Was that the President showing his support?” I naively asked.
“Nah,” said a friend of mine. “He’s probably simulating a strafing run.”
I am in agreement with the decision, if holding a “Gay Pride” event means that workers are using their work hours to participate therein. I would also be opposed to a “Greek Independence” event, an “Arbor Day” event, or indeed any event that involved getting paid for doing something other than working.
If, on the other hand, this was simply the use of DoJ facilities during off hours, and is permitted for other events, then I think the denial here is wrong.
Ashcroft’s DOJ should be renamed “Department Of JusticeforonlyStraightWhiteChristians”, based on the news reports I have seen coming out of there. :rolleyes:
Hrmmm…First response: gone. Let’s try this again. Hispanic and ‘Asian-Pacific’ (sort of a broad brush, no?) ‘pride-events’ have no place in the workplace, either.
Check this out. I am going to be proud of myself, without using any corporate resources:
Damn, Brutus. You are the Croatian Sensation. You are OG; A smooth operator.
See how easy that was? Places of business are for business. Leave the various ‘pride’-type events to the various proud peoples’ personal lives.
I’ve noticed at my workplace, these sorts of heritage-related things are always attended by the same small group of people. I venture to say that if they were held after hours or on weekends, no one would attend.
So much for pride.
If I was in charge, none of them would be sanctioned on the clock. If you can’t be proud on your own time, you’re probably not all that proud in the first place. And, no, I’m not jealous that my eastern European heritage is apparently not worthy of a month or a week or a day so designated…
Huh. A reasonable stance. Nobody has the right to be proud of who they are in the workplace? Not quite what Brutus is saying. Nobody has the right to do anything extracurricular in the workplace? Closer.
So why is Ashcroft having Bible studies at DOJ? Last time I looked, there was nothing requiring employees of the Justice Department to be familiar with the contents of the Bible?
Oh, and by the way, “Pride” in this context usually translates to “self-acceptance” – and God forbid that any person should accept himself as different from the standard that the “pro-family” groups (who are opposed to most kinds of families, by the way) set down as “proper.”
I wouldn’t say a word if the Gov’t. banned them all: but the only one they banned was Gay Pride, and the Prez. refused (unlike his predecessor) to OK Gay Pride Month (as opposed to, say, “Eye Injury Prevention Month”).