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.

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Howard Dean and the DNC haven't always had the best relationship with gay press, a fact made evident in this testimony from the ongoing Donald Hitchcock discrimination lawsuit. Watch as Dean discusses the "hysterical" Washington Blade, the DNC's arch-nemesis. And he doesn't mean funny.

The hits just keep coming for Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean. And when we say "hits," we mean video of his testimony in the ongoing discrimination lawsuit filed by former gay outreach director Donald Hitchcock.

In case you're just joining us, Hitchcock claims key DNC leaders conspired to sack him as retaliation for his boyfriend Paul Yandura's public criticism of the party. Dean denies the allegations, claiming Hitchcock failed to seduce the gays.

This particular video - part of which has been blacked out for its confidentiality - has less to do with Hitchcock's firing and more to do with the Democratic Party's alleged inclusion, specifically with regard to the national convention's contentious gay goals.

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The Democratic Party prides itself on inclusion. Unfortunately, the so-called "big tent" doesn't always have room for everyone.

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The Democratic Party prides itself on its inclusion. Their past electoral missions, however, suggest otherwise.

In the months leading up to the 2006 election, the Democratic National Committee's Faith In Action initiative, led by the DNC's troublesome Chief of Staff, Leah Daughtry, funded and endorsed an anti-gay agenda.

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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.

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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.

Alright. So, DNC Chairman Howard Dean yesterday released a statement on California's gay marriage ruling. And, by some sort of politically expedient miracle, Dean managed not to use the word gay. Incredible! Said the former Vermont governor:

The Supreme Court of California today took a step forward in the long march toward protecting equal rights under the law for every American. This should not be a matter of politics or partisanship; it is a matter of protecting the rights and dignity of all American families.

Yes, that's totally true, but you know the gays aren't going to take Dean's "gay" omission.

Take, for example, gay activist Larry Kramer, who had some harsh words for Dean - and others. In an angry missive to Michael Petrelis:

This is all shocking, michael, all the responses from hillary, obama, dean. it shows that we have much much work to do and that HRC is, as ever, out to lunch.

note that hillary and obama go out of their way to insert the words "civil unions" when the california opinion distinctly rules that these are no longer the desirable goal. [all sic]

If there's one homo you don't want mad at you, it's Larry Kramer.

We're in the home stretch of primary season, but that doesn't mean all's well in the Democratic party. Aside from Hillary Clinton's commendable tenacity, and the din of her vocal, though dwindling supporters, there's a new tussle a brewing: the delegate selection tussle.

Many state parties have shown resistance to the Democratic National Committee's Shay Amendment, a measure that set so-called "gay goals." These numeric marks were set to help each state or territory include gay people in their overall delegate camp. Unfortunately, things haven't worked out quite as planned. And, if you haven't read part one, you'd better catch up.

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Has the Democratic National Committee gone too far? Republicans say yes.

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Leah Daughtry sure knows how to put on a show.

The DNC Chief of Staff last week addressed the National Black Justice Coalition and promised to gives gays more say in the party's politics. And you can be sure she used to opportunity to praise the party's chairman, the woefully forgetful Howard Dean:

We made a commitment under Gov. Dean’s leadership that we wanted to do something different. We wanted to make sure, make a way so that people from various communities, and particularly the GLBT community, would have a seat at the table, would have a voice, would have a vote when we nominate our president of the United States.

Daughtry went on to say that she and her peers are going to fight tooth and nail for diversity. Unfortunately Daughtry keeps her gay inclusion on her terms.

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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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