BAW
The Flower
Yet another reason I may be leaving the Republican party this year 
Saturday, June 7, 2003
Ashcroft's ban on gay event gets mixed reaction
Critics say attorney general is backing off promise. Conservatives support him.
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
The New York Times
WASHINGTON ? Democrats and civil-rights advocates on Friday condemned the Justice Department for banning a gay-pride event for employees at the department, and they called on Attorney General John Ashcroft to reverse the decision.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., told Ashcroft in a letter Friday that he found the decision "unconscionable" at a department charged with protecting civil rights, and he promised to propose legislation if the Justice Department did not allow the event to take place.
But conservative groups opposed to gay rights rallied to Ashcroft's defense over an issue that has revived questions about his stance on homosexuality.
A group of several hundred gay and lesbian Justice Department employees, called DOJ Pride, budgeted $600 to hold an awards ceremony on June 18 at the department's Great Hall to commemorate Gay Pride Month. The group held similar events at the department each of the last six years, members said, and Ashcroft's top deputy spoke at last year's event.
But Justice Department officials told the group it could not hold the event at the department this year because of a new policy prohibiting events not recognized by White House proclamations.
President Bush has approved several hundred proclamations, recognizing events like National African American History Month, National Prayer Day and Leif Ericson Day.
But Bush, unlike former President Bill Clinton, has declined to recognize Gay Pride Month, and the White House said Friday that he has no plans to do so this year either.
"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 Scott McClellan, a spokesman. "Beyond that, it's a matter for the Justice Department."
Officials at the Justice Department's equal-employment-opportunity office acknowledged on Friday that the office notified the employee group of the decision regarding the gay-pride event, but they referred all questions to the Justice Department's public-affairs office. Officials there refused to discuss the decision.
Gay associations at many federal agencies have held gay-pride events in recent years. Employees at the Commerce Department and a few other agencies have complained about not receiving enough administrative support, but this is the first time any agency has blocked a gay group from using the premises, said Leonard Hirsch, president of Federal GLOBE, a gay and lesbian association.
"There's a political calculation going on here by the Justice Department, and they figure they gain more with the conservative right than they lose by discriminating against gays and lesbians," he said.
The Justice Department's decision set off quick reaction from groups on both sides of the gay-rights issue.
Ashcroft, a deeply religious man and a social conservative, was known for his strong views against homosexuality during his days in the Senate. He said he considered homosexuality a sin, and he opposed legislation extending hate crimes laws to cover gays.
But during his confirmation hearings in 2001 he pledged not to tolerate discrimination against homosexuals in the Justice Department. Critics said Friday that the decision to ban the gay-pride event amounted to Ashcroft backpedaling from that vow.
Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., noted in a statement Friday that he specifically asked Ashcroft during his confirmation about DOJ Pride's use of government facilities. Ashcroft testified that he had "no intent to treat this group differently than any other."
In his letter, Lautenberg called the decision to block the event "outrageous." Noting that conservative groups have lobbied federal agencies to ban gay pride events at government facilities, Lautenberg said "the possibility that the department would put the wishes of groups with a political agenda ahead of the civil rights of its own employees is unconscionable."
The American Civil Liberties Union charged that the decision could violate the Justice Department's own anti-discrimination policies. A Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity denied that the decision violates any anti-discrimination policies, but the ACLU said it was considering a legal challenge.
"I think Ashcroft has gone out on a legal limb on this, and he's certainly trashed his own personal word in the process," said Matt Coles, director of the ACLU's Gay and Lesbian Rights Project.
But Sandy Rios, president of a conservative Christian group called Concerned Women for America, said "homosexuality is immoral" and added she was grateful Ashcroft had taken such a "courageous step to stand against the pressure of the politically correct elite."
Saturday, June 7, 2003
Ashcroft's ban on gay event gets mixed reaction
Critics say attorney general is backing off promise. Conservatives support him.
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
The New York Times
WASHINGTON ? Democrats and civil-rights advocates on Friday condemned the Justice Department for banning a gay-pride event for employees at the department, and they called on Attorney General John Ashcroft to reverse the decision.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., told Ashcroft in a letter Friday that he found the decision "unconscionable" at a department charged with protecting civil rights, and he promised to propose legislation if the Justice Department did not allow the event to take place.
But conservative groups opposed to gay rights rallied to Ashcroft's defense over an issue that has revived questions about his stance on homosexuality.
A group of several hundred gay and lesbian Justice Department employees, called DOJ Pride, budgeted $600 to hold an awards ceremony on June 18 at the department's Great Hall to commemorate Gay Pride Month. The group held similar events at the department each of the last six years, members said, and Ashcroft's top deputy spoke at last year's event.
But Justice Department officials told the group it could not hold the event at the department this year because of a new policy prohibiting events not recognized by White House proclamations.
President Bush has approved several hundred proclamations, recognizing events like National African American History Month, National Prayer Day and Leif Ericson Day.
But Bush, unlike former President Bill Clinton, has declined to recognize Gay Pride Month, and the White House said Friday that he has no plans to do so this year either.
"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 Scott McClellan, a spokesman. "Beyond that, it's a matter for the Justice Department."
Officials at the Justice Department's equal-employment-opportunity office acknowledged on Friday that the office notified the employee group of the decision regarding the gay-pride event, but they referred all questions to the Justice Department's public-affairs office. Officials there refused to discuss the decision.
Gay associations at many federal agencies have held gay-pride events in recent years. Employees at the Commerce Department and a few other agencies have complained about not receiving enough administrative support, but this is the first time any agency has blocked a gay group from using the premises, said Leonard Hirsch, president of Federal GLOBE, a gay and lesbian association.
"There's a political calculation going on here by the Justice Department, and they figure they gain more with the conservative right than they lose by discriminating against gays and lesbians," he said.
The Justice Department's decision set off quick reaction from groups on both sides of the gay-rights issue.
Ashcroft, a deeply religious man and a social conservative, was known for his strong views against homosexuality during his days in the Senate. He said he considered homosexuality a sin, and he opposed legislation extending hate crimes laws to cover gays.
But during his confirmation hearings in 2001 he pledged not to tolerate discrimination against homosexuals in the Justice Department. Critics said Friday that the decision to ban the gay-pride event amounted to Ashcroft backpedaling from that vow.
Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., noted in a statement Friday that he specifically asked Ashcroft during his confirmation about DOJ Pride's use of government facilities. Ashcroft testified that he had "no intent to treat this group differently than any other."
In his letter, Lautenberg called the decision to block the event "outrageous." Noting that conservative groups have lobbied federal agencies to ban gay pride events at government facilities, Lautenberg said "the possibility that the department would put the wishes of groups with a political agenda ahead of the civil rights of its own employees is unconscionable."
The American Civil Liberties Union charged that the decision could violate the Justice Department's own anti-discrimination policies. A Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity denied that the decision violates any anti-discrimination policies, but the ACLU said it was considering a legal challenge.
"I think Ashcroft has gone out on a legal limb on this, and he's certainly trashed his own personal word in the process," said Matt Coles, director of the ACLU's Gay and Lesbian Rights Project.
But Sandy Rios, president of a conservative Christian group called Concerned Women for America, said "homosexuality is immoral" and added she was grateful Ashcroft had taken such a "courageous step to stand against the pressure of the politically correct elite."
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