Michelle Obama came out for the gays yesterday.

The potential first lady appeared at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel to address the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council, which is just DNC fancy talk for "rich white men." Well, mostly. We were there and saw maybe ten girl guests and only a few people of color.

Mrs. Obama spent much of her time hitting Barack Obama's key campaign points and even echoed his stump speeches at times. More than that, however, Mrs. Obama attempted to link the civil rights movement with the gay rights movement:

"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," she said at the event, held days before the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots between gays and New York police, and the city's annual gay pride parade.

"The world as it is should be one that rejects discrimination of all kinds," she said.

Touting her husband's record pushing for workplace discrimination legislation as an Illinois state senator and his support of civil unions, Obama noted her husband also had brought a call for equality to conservative groups, telling churchgoers they need to combat homophobia in the black community.

While pride and general election politics were the meat of Michelle's speech, the underlying message was clear: gays, you need to back Barack Obama. This was not a deep, biting or even especially intriguing appearance, but Obama's appearance last night definitely did the job: the event raised about $1.3 million.

We'll have some more analysis on Mrs. Obama's appearance later in the day.

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.

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