Just when you thought the anti-gay discrimination lawsuit against the DNC couldn't get any messier, it is.
On Friday Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff will publish a scathing editorial in which he says that lawyers for DNC chief of staff Leah Daughtery tried to intimidate Naff and the Blade's publisher Lynne Brown from continuing to cover the discrimination lawsuit by Donald Hitchcock. Hitchcock was fired from his job as the DNC's gay outreach person when his partner Paul Yandura publicly criticized the DNC for not doing more to fight state level anti-gay constitutional amendments.
Naff writes that he "got a taste of the Democratic wrath last month, after criticizing DNC Chair Howard Dean and his chief of staff, Leah Daughtry, in an editorial." Naff had written about what he called an insufficient Democratic response to comments against the equitable treatment of openly gay military members made by former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Peter Pace.
According to Naff, Daughtry responded to the editorial by sending two lawyers to confront him and Blade publisher Lynne Brown, lodging what Naff calls "red-faced cursing and threatening of lawsuits." While the lawyers said they represented Daughtry and not the DNC, Naff writes that DNC officials have nonetheless "gloated behind the scenes" that the incident compelled the Blade to stop writing about the Hitchcock suit.
Charlie Kimmett, one of the lawyers representing Daughtry, told PageOneQ a different story;
Contacted by PageOneQ, attorney Charlie Kimmett, one of the two lawyers representing Daughtry at the meeting said "the meeting we attended was not at all contentious." Asked if there was cursing at the meeting by himself or his colleague Tom Connolly, as was claimed by Naff, Kimmett claimed there was "absolutely no cursing at the meeting."
Kimmett also claimed that the meeting with Naff and Brown had nothing to do with the lawsuit by Hitchcock and that he and Tom Connolly, the other lawyer present, were not representing the DNC.
Not one to be scared easily Naff says
Of course, to suggest that the Blade would abandon a story because a couple of angry lawyers made a scene in the lobby constitutes wishful thinking. One thing every journalist learns early on is that when people start yelling and making threats, that means you're onto something.
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7 Comments
Doesn't surprise me at all. Both major parties are leaning more to the right, trying to snare the "family values" vote.
Pitiful, really, just pitiful.
diddlygrl | March 13, 2008 4:25 PM
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Hahahahahaha. Yeah, go and make a scene with the editor of a newspaper. That'll sweep everything under the rug.
Alex Blaze | March 14, 2008 1:14 AM
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Leah Daughtry is a pentecostal cult leader. The pentecostals, mired in superstition and ignorance, are neck in neck with the catholic hierarchy in the race to be named the most obnoxious gay bashers on the christian right. The ranks of the pentecostal 'ministry' to which Leah Daughtry so proundly belongs also include vermin like Jimmy Swaggart, who’s threatened to kill gay men, and Pat Robertson, the bible fascist. People like that CANNOT avoid being bigoted.
The first question we have to ask is how Daughtry, who freely chose her bigoted and perverse lifestyle, is permitted to run the day to day operations of a political party that pretends to be GLBT friendly. The answer, of course is that they’re not at all friendly, and we carry the scars on our backs to prove it. Her presence in the DNC is further confirmation that in spite of their claims to the contrary, the Democratic Party is a cesspool of bigotry no better and no worse than the Republicans.
The actions of the Democratic (sic) ‘leadership’ establishes that beyond doubt. Obama panders to bigots. Billary Clinton plays the 'race' card and the muslim card. Barney guts ENDA. They combine to trash can our hate crimes bill and then hypocritically condemn the murders of our youth. They refuse to end DADT and DOMA. Diane Feinstein makes sure that gay bashers get appointed to the federal judiciary and as Attorney General.
It’s enough to make you bitter, unless you knew all along that it’s standard operating procedure for both Democrats and Republicans.
Bill Perdue | March 14, 2008 4:36 AM
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Who need reptilians? We got Democrats. The whole political system reeks of cronyism and favoritism. Case in point. Frank's sudden discovery that the newly minted democrats from formerly republican districts would be in danger of losing their jobs if they voted in favor of a gender inclusive ENDA. If you don't have the back bone to stand up when it's time to, get out. We don't want you.
Kelli | March 14, 2008 6:57 AM
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I agree, Bill. How Daughtry is able to keep her job is beside me. How well does it say "commitment to equality" when the COS thinks we're going to burn in hell and openly espouses it?
But I'm reminded of an old axiom that I use in regards to Bilerico - "Never pick a fight with a guy who buys ink by the barrel." Apparently the DNC lawyers forgot that. Stupid.
Bil Browning | March 14, 2008 8:34 AM
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So tired. So tired of words. The GLBT community cannot even come to an aggrement on what to call ourselves. I would hope that our common cause is first and foremost equal rights because we are all human beings. All the words, in all the blogs, in all the gay rags amount to zero because we come off sounding so stereotypically queer, or qay, or bitchy, or queeny. Help me out here people...what's the word I'm looking for? How can we achieve equal rights when we can't even decide what order we want to place the letters GLBT. Let us decide to band together in masses under the single banner of national equal rights. Who among us will lead the charge?
Mike | March 14, 2008 8:36 AM
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The southern baptists are right up there with the penecosts and the catholics when it comes to being ignorant, superstitious, and anti-gay.
I have said it before, you can not expect help from the national parties or government, once you get past a certain level the politicians lose accountability to their constituents and become pawns of the special interests.
Unfortunately, too many people just vote for a familiar name, or do not even bother voting at all, so the same old crooks get put back in place election after election. Only if they screw up big time, get caught with their pants down, or their hand in the cookie jar and get indicted for something, do the names change.
This country needs a revolution, all the bums kicked out and barred from ever serving in public office again. Both parties need to be scoured from the face of the earth and new political parties instituted. The democrats and republicans have betrayed the American people for far too long.
diddlygrl | March 15, 2008 12:34 AM
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