In a post that will surely upset the "We must not be divisive!" crowd, Andrew Sullivan questions the continued value of the Human Rights Campaign, noting that not only is there almost no information about last weekend's protests on their site, but also:

"In the two decades of serious struggle for marriage equality, the Human Rights Campaign has been mostly absent, and when present, often passive or reactive. Here's a simple statistic that might help shake us out of complacency: HRC claims to have spent $3.4 million on No On 8. The Mormon church was able to spend over $20 million, by appealing to its members. Why are non-gay Mormons more capable of organizing and fund-raising on a gay rights measure than the biggest national gay rights group?"

It's not a dumb question.

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Vice-Presidential nominee Joe Biden will speak at the national Human Rights Campaign Dinner in Washington DC on October 4th. "Senator Biden's record in the United States Senate is one of support and understanding that has been unwavering throughout his career." HRC President Joe Solmonese said after Biden's VP selection.

I've always loved Joe Biden. He was only 29 years old when he won his Senate seat. He took the train home from DC every night to raise his kids. He's the real thing. What It Takes, by Richard Ben Cramer, is a fantastic behind the scenes look at the '88 Primary Campaigns and Biden is a major character. It really gives you an idea just how ordinary (and extraordinary) of a guy he truly is. Below the fold is Biden on the stump yesterday, doing what he does best in Ohio.

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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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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 individual’s contact information is protected by the system. When a person chooses to forward the email, then another user is receiving the original activists personalized action. Currently, that webform contains a warning that says "if you are not [name of original activist], click here."

To better protect those who choose to forward via their internet service after the individual takes action, the system is setup to link to a clean form. Because there are those who forward our emails without using the ‘Tell a Friend’ option, HRC will be including the following disclaimer on all future actions: ‘This link is specific to you, so please take action on this campaign before you forward to your friends.’

HRC will continue to look for ways to improve its systems and remain an effective advocate on Capitol Hill.

We'll sleep well tonight…

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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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.