Hoping to scare voters away from former Governor Ronnie Musgrove, Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker began running this ad tying Musgrove, who wants Wicker's seat, to all sorts of "liberal" groups, like Friend of Hillary and pro-choice NARAL.

And, of course, to gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, which is represented in the commercial by the Village People. Too bad Musgrove never took money from HRC, a fact of which Wicker obviously doesn't care…

[via Towleroad]

Joe Solmonese made a big stink about the Log Cabin Republicans this morning when he blasted the gay group's support for Republican presidential hopeful John McCain. Recent reports, however, claim that Joe and his Human Rights Campaign are much closer to the McCain-backing Cabinites than they let on.

A website called Boycott HRC last week reported that a "reliable source" told them HRC had donated $10,000 to the LCR, while giving none to the National Stonewall Democrats.

TransAdvocate, meanwhile, published an email purportedly sent from NSD co-chair Steve Driscoll to executive director Jon Hoadley, among others. In this email, Driscoll derides HRC for their "high-handedness" at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and gripes that the organization had been stonewalling discussions on a possible 2008 collaboration.

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It's official!

Barack Obama announced last night that he's picked Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. Biden, who previously attempted to throw the press off track, brings 35 of Senatorial experience to Obama's ticket. And, thanks to his seat on the Foreign Relations Committee, first hand international policy knowledge, which will help even Obama's odds against John McCain.

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Gay Congressman Barney Frank in Washington will no doubt garner some gay ire in coming weeks.

Frank, Human Rights Campaign and others have been busy hashing out the ever-contentious Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the latest controversy has nothing to do with trans inclusion, which has derailed discussions in the past. No, this latest brouhaha revolves around another hot-button topic: marriage.

A little-discussed provision of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would allow employers to give health insurance coverage and other benefits to married opposite-sex couples and deny those same benefits to the partners of their gay and lesbian employees who are legally married in Massachusetts and California.
…
A similar provision has been in the bill since 1994, when ENDA was first introduced on Capitol Hill, but the earlier language said employers did not have to provide benefits to the domestic partners of their employees.

ENDA, which bans job discrimination based on sexual orientation, now says an employer cannot be required "to treat a couple who are not married in the same manner as the covered entity treats a married couple for purposes of employee benefits."

Before people start burning effigies, however, Frank's quick to point out that he personally did not add the language. It is, however, necessary, he says: "It was the decision of the committee and of everybody else, myself, Tammy, was that we couldn't pass anything without this…We had to make it clear that non-discrimination in employment had no effect on marriage one way or another."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa released a statement yesterday on why he chose not to attend HRC's boycotted gala:

The Human Rights Campaign is on the frontlines of the fight for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights and I fully support its important mission at this critical moment in history.

It has come to my attention that the San Francisco Labor Council has voted to formally boycott HRC's annual fundraising gala and regretfully, I cannot attend this years event.

As Mayor of the largest city in California, I am committed to creating a world in which no member or group in society is denied full and equal rights. It is my hope that this time next year will find us all united by victory in the fight against Proposition 8 and ever more determined to establish equal rights, with no exceptions, for every one of us.

And peace shall reign…

Human Rights Campaign's past continues to bite back.

The non-profit caused a rift last year when it supported a non-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act after vowing to fight for trans inclusive measure. Even after the group apologized and promised to right its wrongs, some queer activists still aren't feeling the HRC love.

And they're fighting back.

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The campaign against Human Rights Campaign continues.

HRC came under fire last year after flip-flopping on an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act. After vowing to fight for trans rights, the non-profit did an about face and began pushing for a gays-only version of the legislation.

Now, months later, the after shocks are being felt in San Francisco, where two of the city's gay politicos have vowed to boycott HRC's annual dinner next month:

On Tuesday, San Francisco Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Bevan Dufty introduced a resolution at City Hall calling for a bill that includes transgender people and recognizing the boycott.

"The Human Rights Campaign should not be human rights cowards," Ammiano said at a news conference at the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center. He said the organization seems uneasy with transgender issues.

Dufty said he will skip the fundraising dinner for the first time in 23 years and instead will make dinner at his home for people protesting outside the event.

The city's two LGBT Democratic clubs support the boycott, as does the San Francisco Labor Council. Assemblyman Mark Leno and state Sen. Carole Migden, both of San Francisco, also are not attending the event.

HRC has continuously defended last year's queer stance an claim they "exhausted every resource" to do the right thing. They were forced, they say, to fight for what they could get. Too bad they ended up fighting their own kind.

So, what's the moral of the story? If you're going to claim to be the nation's largest, most important queer non-profit, don't act so "gay."

Andrew Sullivan today reignites his long-standing feud with Human Rights Campaign.

Flamers on!

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Barack Obama’s gay push continues.

In addition to releasing a gay pride message yesterday, the Senator’s campaign last night organized an impromptu conference call for about 1200 Democratic supporters. While ostensibly meant to inform the Democratic candidate’s constituents, the call served another, far more important purpose: rallying Senator Hillary Clinton’s supporters.

In fact, the former contender’s name arose within seconds of the call’s commencement, when Obama's deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand began, “It is a very important time for our country, our party, for Senator Obama and Senator Clinton.”

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