Oy! We do not envy the Democratic National Committee at the moment. Not only are they fighting what's become an increasingly tough presidential election, but they're about to have a full-fledged discrimination trial!

After months of discovery and mediation, talks between the DNC and Donald Hitchcock failed yesterday. For those of you not paying attention, Hitchcock once served as the DNC's gay outreach officer, but found himself sacked soon after his boyfriend, Paul Yandura, wrote an open letter criticizing the DNC's gay politics.

The party organ, said Yandura, simply used gays as an ATM without fully incorporating them into the party. Hitchcock claims he was fired for political revenge. He also claims the DNC paid him less and marginalized gay outreach. The DNC and Chairman Howard Dean deny these claims, of course.

CONTINUED »

Things got heated after Donald Hitchcock's failed mediation with the Democratic National Committee.

A former gay outreach officer, Hitchcock's suing the party organ for discrimination and wrongful termination. He claims Chairman Howard Dean and other leaders sacked him in retaliation for his boyfriend's public criticism of the party. The DNC denies the allegations and potential settlement talks crumbled last week.

And months of tension exploded soon after…

CONTINUED »

Thing aren't looking good for the DNC. Judge Jeanette Clark this week rejected the party organ's plea for a summary judgment in Donald Hitchcock's discrimination lawsuit.

Hitchcock, you'll remember, filed the suit after the DNC sacked him as their gay outreach officer. The politico alleges that Chairman Howard Dean and company were retaliating against him and his boyfriend, Paul Yandura, who wrote a very public letter blasting the DNC's gay politics and for using gays as an ATM. The DNC denies these claims and hoped Clark would put the issue to bed. But, alas, she will not.

And what's more, Clark's taking a hard look at Dean and DNC treasurer Andy Tobias, both of whom have been accused of making defamatory statements about Hitchcock.

CONTINUED »

As many of you know, former DNC gay outreach adviser Donald Hitchcock claims the Democratic National Committee sacked him in retaliation for his boyfriend's public criticism of the party.

Chairman Howard Dean, however, testified earlier this year that he and his peers fired former gay outreach adviser Donald Hitchcock for poor job performance. Said Dean: “The relations with the gay community, which I had a very good relationship when I started, had been deteriorating since Donald came on board.”

Well, that story lost a bit of weight last month when lesbian fundraiser and Dean loyalist Claire Lucas told a DC judge that she was "shocked" by Hitchcock's firing, because he had, in her opinion, been doing a good job.

CONTINUED »

The Democratic National Committee got some bad news yesterday.

A DC judge ruled that the organization cannot block press, such as ourselves, from accessing internal documents related to the ongoing lawsuit filed by Donald Hitchcock, who alleges the DNC canned him in retaliation for his boyfriend's public denouncement of the party organ. DNC officials hoped to keep the media's hands off the documents, which they argued could damage the organization's reputation.

Judge Jeanette Clark disagreed: "…The Court is constrained to deny the Motion because the DNC has not met its burden of articulating sufficient facts in support of its Motion to limit the dissemination of discovery [documents]. Therefore, good cause was not shown to grant the motion."

Here's a PDF of the ruling.

Donald Hitchcock's lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee continues. Formerly the executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council, Hitchcock alleges the DNC terminated him in retaliation for his boyfriend's public criticism of the party. DNC Chairman Howard Dean denies this, but sort of lent credence when he said Hitchcock failed to rally "the community," as if we're some giant homo bloc.

Past testimony aside, there's a new twist as a federal judge has ordered GLLC Chair Claire Lucas to take the stand - and she will on Friday.

Lucas has been quite the contentious figure in this mess, but not necessarily because of her role in the Hitchcock affair. Lucas refused to testify in the hearings - and sparked all sorts of rumors.

CONTINUED »

Howard Dean's memory continues to fail him. The Democratic National Committee Chairman claims his organization fired Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council director Donald Hitchcock for "poor job performance," not as retaliation for his boyfriend, Paul Yandura's open letter criticizing the party's lackluster gay politics.

Taking a look at Dean's sworn deposition, however, one has to wonder whether his shady recollection says more his parsed replies. And gay Democrats should be wondering how they can stand up and save their party.

CONTINUED »

The Democratic National Committee's ugly insides are spilling out. Howard Dean's testimony in the Donald Hitchcock discrimination suit reveals more about the organization than just their gay politics.

And it's unsettling, to say the least.

CONTINUED »

It was only a matter of time, but the mainstream media picked up on the DNC's gay drama.

Washington Post today ran a piece on Donald Hitchcock's discrimination suit against the Democratic National Committee, particularly with regard to Howard Dean's testimony.

The article largely catches readers up with the suit, but also offers a view of the conflict between Dean, who's Chairman of the DNC, and Hitchcock's lawyer, Lynne Bernabei:

…Dean's infamous short temper was on full display toward the end of the second day of his deposition during a testy exchange with Lynne Bernabei, the plaintiff's attorney who deposed him.

Bernabei grilled Dean about why, as governor of Vermont, he didn't hold a public ceremony when he signed the state's civil union bill into law. "You don't get to put words in my mouth," Dean fumed. "If you want the truth and whole truth and nothing but the truth…You have to let me answer your question."

"You can say anything you want. You are a politician, Mr. Dean," Bernabei said. (He's also a doctor, Ms. Bernabei.)

"You are not behaving in a manner which is professionally competent or qualifying," Dean said, adding, "You are an embarrassment to this profession, counselor."

"Well, it is not your profession. Thank you," Bernabei snapped.

"It is my daughter's profession," Dean shot back. "I am going to show her this tape so she never behaves like this."

Who knew Dean had such an inner bitch? We love it!

Duck and cover! The claws are definitely coming out in the DNC v. Washington Blade battle.

Tensions have been building for months, ever since the Blade began writing unflattering pieces regarding Donald Hitchcock's discrimination suit against the Democratic National Committee. Things only got worse last week when a testifying Howard Dean took some swipes at the paper and compared its reporting to that of Fox News. Ouch.

Blade editor Kevin Naff says he didn't want to get personal, but Dean's left him no option:

It is irresponsible of Dean to question the paper’s credibility without offering any specific claims of inaccurate reporting. I challenge him to produce examples of how the paper was “incorrect” in its reporting… Why are party officials, including Dean, so dismissive and critical of the gay press? It’s unfortunate that Dean and his staff have avoided responding to questions that are so important to such a loyal party constituency.

Oh, please, what else are we homos going to do? Vote Republican? Some would rather die - and the Demmies know it.

They say the camera adds ten pounds, but Howard Dean's looking pretty gaunt in this video from his discrimination discovery deposition.

CONTINUED »

Some DNC-associated lawyers have been up to no good. Homo-journo Kevin Naff alleges that DNC Chief of Staff Leah Daughtry sent her lawyers to intimidate him.

Naff, whose op-ed appears tomorrow's Washington Blade, the representatives tried to put the squeeze on him and his publisher:

Naff writes that he "got a taste of the Democratic wrath last month, after criticizing DNC Chair Howard Dean and his chief of staff, Leah Daughtry, in an editorial."
…
According to Naff, Daughtry responded to the editorial by sending two lawyers to confront him and Blade publisher Lynne Brown, lodging what Naff calls "red-faced cursing and threatening of lawsuits."

One of Daughtry's lawyers, Charlie Kimmet, denies the allegations and described their meeting as "not at all contentious".

CONTINUED »