Bush won't issue gay pride proclamation

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

source - walter lippmann, who says: 

[Considering all the help his ghost has been providing
to the forces aligned against Cuba, you'd think Bush
and his gang would be grateful and announce a month
of celebration of the life and works of Reynaldo Arenas.]

Posted at 9:03 a.m. EDT Friday, June 8, 2001

Bush won't issue gay pride month proclamation

By SANDRA SOBIERAJ
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is opting out of Gay Pride Month.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush will not, as President
Clinton did, issue a proclamation with such a designation for this month.

Nor, as another White House official put into writing this week, will the
executive office of the president sponsor an observance.

""The president believes every person should be treated with dignity and
respect but he does not believe in politicizing people's sexual orientation.
That's a personal matter," McClellan said.

In a staff memo circulated by the White House Office of Administration via
e-mail, managers within the administration were advised:

""The executive office of the president will not sponsor an observance for
Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. The executive office of the president will
continue to observe, in some form or manner, the special emphasis programs
that are traditionally recognized through the Affirmative Employment
Program."

""Those programs recognize minorities and women that have been traditionally
underrepresented in the work force," the e-mail continued.

David Smith, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest
gay and lesbian advocacy group, said that since Bush became president in
January he has signed proclamations designating Black History Month, Women's
History Month, and Irish-American Heritage Month.

Bush has ""reached out to other constituencies," Smith said. ""His refusal
to reach out to our community calls into question his promise to be
president of all the people."

In previous years, Clinton signed proclamations for Gay Pride Month and his
administration sponsored speakers' forums for the occasion.

This year, some executive branch offices, including the Interior and
Transportation departments, are still planning their own observances
regardless of White House endorsement.

 
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