Petrelis Files

WaPo: HRC's Solmonese Speaks in London

Let the record show, that in the midst of gay America attempting to finally secure legislative employment non-discrimination protection and a lifting of the ban on open gay people in the military, our Dear Leader, one Joe Solmonese of the Worst. Gay. Democratic. Group. Ever., was off in jolly ol' London town.

Does Solmonese think Prime Minister Gordon Brown or the Parliament of the United Kingdom, or the gay British org he spoke to, have influence over ENDA or DADT? Why on earth is the leaders of the largest gay org in the United States, at this crucial time for gay Americans, jetting off to London?

This bit of infuriating news is from an excellent profile, and I say not just because I'm quoted, of Solmonese by Lonnae O'Neal Parker in Tuesday's Style section of the Washington Post:

But when the [hospital] directive was issued, Solmonese, currently stuck in London because of volcanic ash, says he couldn't fully give himself over to joy, because he knew it would be followed by strong critical reaction. [...]

From London, where he spoke to a British gay rights group, Solmonese muses about how fraught victories in the gay community can be. How understandably emotional the debate can get when people feel their full rights as citizens are so very long past due. He says he tries to put aside that emotion when he's trying to get to the heart of a lawmaker's resistance.

Of all the things in the profile, this nugget stands out the most. I'd like to know why it was so important for Solmonese to be in London for this talk of his. It reeks of Geoff Kors and Lorri Jean going on vacation at crucial points in the Prop 8 campaign in 2008.

If Solmonese doesn't have something to do in Washington on ENDA enactment and DADT repeal, can't he find a way to make himself useful on those matters from somewhere, anywhere, on U.S. soil?