He’s previously hosted us at the Easter Egg Roll (ironic, because Christian tradition+gays is hysterical). In June, he had us over for tea, even sticking around long enough to talk to us. But that’s about all the time he has for you, special interest gays. Because his latest invitation for queers to stop by came when he got the hell out of dodge.
In a previously unannounced event, the White House invited some 100 guests chosen the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, the Mautner Project, and Equality Maryland to pick who they wanted to come. The guest list topped out at 150, and invitees were treated to a private tour of the White House’s fine china. (It’s the same tour public visitors to 1600 Pennsylvania receive.) The tour, on Aug. 30, took place while Obama was away, and administration officials were not present. (Other groups, aside from LGBT organizations, were also invited on similar tours. UPDATE: Turns out at least one group, Native American tribal leaders, got a full-fledged meeting with administration officials.)
None of this, of course, she be construed as an attempt to influence Gay Inc. groups, or to generate fundraising dollars! It’s just Obama & Co. casually extending an olive branch to make nice with a group of people whose rights he doesn’t much care about.
Spokespeople for the Task Force and HRC said the special tour their members and guests took would not impact their efforts to lobby the administration on LGBT-related issues.
“As has been our practice, the Task Force will continue to criticize the Obama administration when warranted and thank the administration when warranted,” said Inga Sarda-Sorensen, the group’s director of communications.
“We looked at it more as a thank you to our members,” said David Toth, executive director of Equality Maryland, a statewide LGBT advocacy group.
Toth said Bond extended an invitation to his group earlier in the summer during a national conference of state LGBT groups in St. Louis, which Bond attended.
“Brian told us it was not meant to be a fundraising tool,” Toth said. “He said the White House did not want to have people charged to go.”
Well good, because as any D.C. tourist will tell you, visiting the White House is always free of charge.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
But we hope everyone at Gay Inc. had a good time with their guests at the White House. After all, we’d hate to see decent stationary wasted on neglected invitations to visit the large home of a man who publicly believes you’re not good enough to get married.
Cam
The tour was self guided, it was through the East Wing, lasted about 15 min unless you walked REALLY slowly, most of the rooms were roped off and that was it. It also didn’t seem overly private, as I think other tourists were mixed into the groups.
InExile
Just more of nothing.
Cam
@InExile: Exactly