HRC press release title: “After Discussions with Human Rights Campaign, Mars Inc. Pulls Controversial Ad.” That would be the instantly infamous flamboyant jogger Snickers ad in which Mister T, of all people, tells him to “Get some nuts.”. [HRC]

“The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, today announced that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will deliver the keynote political address at the organization’s gala dinner on Saturday, July 26th.” [Fox Business]

Michelle Obama received loads of praise last month when, at an event for gay Democrats, the potential first lady said, “We are all only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in the pursuit of a more perfect union.”

The “Selma” of which Mrs. Obama spoke refers to a 1965 march in Selma, Alabama, when police beat back civil rights activists trying to march to Montgomery as a protest to a black teenager’s shooting. The event immediately became known as Bloody Sunday. The “Stonewall” of which Mrs Obama spoke, of course, refers to the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, widely seen as the launch of the contemporary gay rights movement. With that geographical reference, Obama sought to - and succeeded in - linking the civil and gay rights movements. The crowd - and the press - went wild, but not everyone agrees with Obama’s optimism.

Racism and homophobia, some believe, are so completely and utterly different that drawing a comparison between the two amounts to a mortal political sin. That’s a perfectly reasonable argument. Race and sexuality have exceedingly divergent histories in the United States, and thus result in entirely different emotional experiences. White people can’t understand anti-black sentiment anymore than straight people can comprehend homophobia.

Black, gay people have felt both, of course, which puts the National Black Justice Coalition in a precarious position.
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David Medina, a member of HRC’s board of directors and former national political director for John Edwards, bit back at Andrew Sullivan, Michael Petrelis and others who accuse HRC of being slanted toward Hillary Clinton during the primary race. In addition to justifying the myriad positions of HRC leaders, Medina offers this rebuttal to Sullivan’s accusations of inaction: “…The communications team of HRC is not in DC in their regular offices, but in California helping manage the surge of media around the historic marriages that will begin taking place this afternoon. That kind of work, along with keeping an eye toward the elections in the fall, is where their energy – and the rest of ours - should … Continued…

The New York Post’s David Benkof ain’t about the gay marriage battle: “The Human Rights Cam paign, America’s largest gay-rights group, recently announced plans to spend at least a half-million dollars to defeat the California Marriage Protection Act. What a waste; gays and lesbians have far more urgent needs. The Golden State constitutional amendment poses no substantive threat to them - it will take nothing away from same-sex couples but the word “marriage.” Even if HRC wants Californians to vote no on the initiative, $500,000 is a lot to spend on a struggle to retain an unpopular court victory that’s only semantic and symbolic.” [NY Post]

Karen Ocamb attended last weekend’s HRC Awards in Los Angeles and she didn’t like what she saw, heard, smelled and probably ate. And she’s especially displeased with HRC honcho Joe Solmonese. [Bilerico]

So, as you know, Annie “Anne” Hathaway accepted the HRC Ally award last weekend.

Well, HRC just now posted the video of Hathaway’s acceptance speech, in which she discusses all the work she’s got ahead of her, her brother’s coming out and how she doesn’t consider herself just an ally to the gays, but part of the family. Oh, girl!

HRC’s email alert went a bit haywire earlier this week. Rex Wockner exposed the “embarrassing” glitch, which linked people’s email addresses with other people’s names, potentially leaking names to other parties. Hoping to restore the world’s faith in technology, HRC spokesman Trevor Thomas sent out a robotic statement: HRC is one of many organizations that choose to include personalized contact information in email action alerts because it expedites the process of participation in an advocacy campaign. This software is designed to make it easier for activists to take action by placing the activist’s information on the email form.

When they help spread the word by clicking the ‘Tell a Friend’ option, an … Continued…

There’s no pride in this one: “…[HRC and Joe Solmonese have] been nominated for San Francisco Pride’s Pink Brick award – an award meant to recognize groups and individuals who’ve run afoul of the community or pushed for antigay measures.” ENDA casts a long shadow, huh? [BAR]

Vanessa Williams proudly accepted an HRC Equality award over the weekend. We’ve included the video of the actress’ acceptance speech after the jump.

It’s a bit lengthy, but worth a view, especially for those of you who a. care about celebrities fighting for the flamers and b. have twelve minutes to kill, which you do…
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Hillary Clinton has long been a gay ally. Who could forget how the former First Lady invited gays into the White House, tried to set up gay administration staffers and marched in New York City’s gay pride parade? No wonder so many gay people are throwing their vote behind the Senator from New York.

What would possess a gay person, then, to vote for Barack Obama, a fairly unknown candidate from Illinois? Our editor recently sat down with three of Obama’s key gay campaigners to figure out what makes them tick and tock for Obama’s presidential clock.

Read all about them - and so much more - after the jump.
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Murmurs of a protest at HRC’s upcoming Equality Award dinner became full fledged gossip today. Pro-trans activists plan to picket outside a dinner here in New York this week as a response to last year’s ENDA debacle. Their presence, says Page Six, is putting pressure on star guests Vanessa Williams, Idina Menzel and others to pull out of the event. Oh, the drama! [NY Post]

Comedy Central aired part two of HRC honcho Joe Solmonese’s sit down with tongue-in-cheek king Stephen Colbert. Watch as the boys talk about Congressional calluses, whether we gays can be blamed for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and when Colbert decided to be straight: late November of 1982. Why? He’s lazy and being gay takes a lot of work.

And, of course, the comedian tries to lobby Solmonese to the straight side - they’re soft, they smell good, they have vaginas. Unfortunately Somonese doesn’t bite. Nor does he high-five.

Human Rights Campaign has will honor singer and actress Vanessa Williams with the coveted Ally for Equality Award. Why? Because she has gay friends and plays a bitchy fashion editor on Ugly Betty. Duh! (And she’s all about equality, too. It’s very glamorous!)

Human Rights Campaign’s Joe Solmonese released a brief statement about John McCain’s gay-baiting robo-call: “It’s ironic that Sen. John McCain is using the same tactics that George Bush used against him in 2000; surreptiously trying to exploit anti-gay prejudice for votes …So much for John McCain being above that.” Oh, snap!