Park Police Withhold Mug Shots
of Choi, Pietrangelo, McGehee

Three gay activists were arrested on March 18 at the White House fence protesting President Obama's less-than fierce advocacy to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. They were servicemembers Dan Choi and Jim Pietrangelo, and activist Robin McGehee of GetEqual.

I filed a Freedom of Information Act request for their mug shots from the U.S. Park Police, the federal law enforcement agency that arrested the three, and the chief replied with the letter below. My curiosity about what the activists looked like when they were booked, and obtaining a federal public document connected to their act of civil disobedience, led me to send in the FOIA.

The Park Police chief explains that the mug shots will not be released because of exemptions in the FOIA statutes, allowing the feds to withhold them since their release could have a stigmatizing effect on the arrestees, and other factors.

I was not aware of this exemption, and a friend pointed me to a February 2009 article from the Tulsa World about it:

The federal government protects the mug shots of its inmates, citing privacy rights. [...]

That means people arrested for violating state laws will have their mug shots made available. But the photos of people detained by federal officials stay secret. [...]

In practice, a college student arrested for public intoxication will have a mug shot publicly available, while the face of a suspected multistate drug-ring leader or identity theft mastermind remains unknown.

"Arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and ridiculous is how I would describe it," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

"It conveys the overall federal attitude that any information to identify a human being is private. It's the federal Privacy Act run amok. You are just not going to get a federal mug shot."

The only way the public sees such mug shot is either when it's leaked, or the arrested person releases it. Maybe the three people arrested in March, along with the other gay arrested recently at the White House fence, could slake my curiosity and share their mug shots on the web. That would help me gain a fuller picture of more aspects about the current mini-wave of angry gay activism in Washington.

Here is the two-page letter. Click to enlarge:

WH Logs: 22 Visits by
Solmonese/Solomonese/Solmenese

While under the 420 influence last night, I recalled that a $500 donation from Human Rights Campaign leader Joe Solmonese to Martha Coakley doesn't show up in Federal Election Commission records, unless his last name is misspelled as Solomonese. That mistake is due to incorrect info from Coakley's campaign staff to the feds, and will never turn up when searching FEC records for contributions from Solmonese.

But if you search FEC filings using "Human Rights Campaign" as the employer of the donor, the Solomonese donations to Coakley turns up. This is a good example of why employer info is crucial to following the money and other things, through the FEC and other transparency tools and search engines.

As I've pored over the White House visitor logs, the missing employer info has stood out as an omission the administration should immediately end, and the three spellings of the HRC executive director's name, without that info, illustrate the need for employer details. It shouldn't take bad typing to gather the complete number of visits.

Also, in my tally of visits by HRC's "man behind the curtain" senior administrator David M. Smith, I can't say for sure how many times his name is in logs because there are dozens of David Smith's listed. All of them lack employer details and that should be unacceptable to all sunshine advocates.

I tried to search the logs using the name Solomonese, but I mistakenly keyed in Solmenese, and up came two visits by Joseph R. Solmenese. The first was on May 11, 2009, with gay liaison Brian Bond for what is described as a roundtable meeting. Thirty-three people were present.

A second Solmenese meeting is listed for June 17, 2009, with POTUS, and the description reads: "MEETING WITH PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE LGBT COMMUNITY."

That was the day Obama signed a memorandum expanding benefits to the domestic partners of federal employees and HRC's leader was there for the photo-op.

But what about info on Solomonese? Sure enough, the visitor logs reveal a single visit by Solomonese with VPOTUS Joe Biden on June 16, 2009, the day before the President signed that memo.

Under his real name, Solmonese has made 19 visits to the White House, and that number inches up to 22, including the three visits under an alias.

Total number of HRC visits now stands at 107, and the figure for visits by Gay Inc types, which excludes reporter Jonathan Capehart, is 193.

Memo to my fellow searchers of federal logs and files: It pays to think of misspelling a person's last name when drilling down any search engine.

Jew Wiesel's Lesson for the Gays

(Elie Wiesel speaks to the press, after lunching with the President on Tuesday.)

Oy, vey. Those Jews are like the gays, in that they're never satisfied. Always kvetching about something, and at important times, over vital matters, taking out old-fashioned, and still effective, full-page newspaper ads. Wait a sec. That only applies to the Jews, not the fagelahs, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

So, survivor of the Nazi camps and a major ripoff by Barnie Madoff, Elie Wiesel, noshed with President Obama at the White House this week. The New York Times reported yesterday:

The [Tuesday] lunch meeting between Mr. Wiesel and Mr. Obama came three weeks after Mr. Wiesel took out a full-page advertisement in a number of United States newspapers criticizing the Obama administration for pressuring Mr. Netanyahu to stop Jewish settlement construction in East Jerusalem, where Palestinians would like to put the capital of an eventual Palestinian state.

The advertisement, in which Mr. Wiesel wrote that “Jerusalem is the heart of our heart, the soul of our soul,” alarmed White House officials, in part because it came on the heels of similar advertisements from the World Jewish Congress and grumbling from members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, that Mr. Obama was pushing Mr. Netanyahu too hard.

Back in April, after the Human Rights Campaign placed full-page ads in gay papers that aren't read in the White House or in Congress, targeting the gay community not the Obama administration, I called on them to take out ads in Washington papers. Send a message to the President through national or mainstream advertising. Radical concept not on HRC's radar.

But for the Jews favoring Israel's housing and security positions, they have a few bones to pick with Obama, and they use standard political pressure tactics to get his attention, to the point where he's gotta meet with Wiesel. Just like the Jews, a niche voting bloc with big bucks to throw at candidates, the gays are on somewhat comparable footing with the Jews, in terms of votes and dollars.

But unlike the Jews, we don't demand our well-funded HRC, NGLTF, GLAAD and other Gay Inc orgs pool their resources and political power, and take out ads in the New York Times and Washinton Post, to lobby Obama.

Nor do we see gay moguls -- Jon Stryker, Bruce Bastion, Jim Hormel, Tim Gill, David Geffen, Michael Huffington, Henry van Ameringen, David Bohnett , Jonathan Lewis, et al. -- filling in the marketing void. Why can't they launch an independent print and multi-media campaign?

Jew Wiesel did it. Fagelah Geffen and crew could pick up a few pointers from him about wielding power in Washington and getting the President's full and undivided attention.

The incompetence of Gay Inc, compounded by the failure of any mogul to fund a media campaign at this crucial legislative time, makes me verklempt.

WaPo's Capehart's Axelrod Meeting at WH

A few weeks ago, after gay military vets staged a civil disobedience at the White House fence, openly gay Washington Post opinion writer Jonathan Capehart had harsh words for the vets and other activists:

Now, allow me one small gripe about yesterday's action. I want repeal of don't ask don't tell as much as the six veterans who put their bodies where their mouths were by getting arrested. But I have two suggestions for them for next time -- because there will be one. First, change the scene of action from the White House to the Capitol. Repeal of don't ask don't tell requires congressional action. And nothing says "Listen to me!" like civil disobedience in the office of the Speaker or the Senate Majority Leader. Second, if they insist on the White House as a venue, they should at least ensure that Obama is on the premises. He was en route back to Washington aboard Air Force One when the DADT Six were carted away.

Gosh, that is remarkably in-line with Obama administration thinking, wouldn't you say? I do, and I also wonder if Capehart's three visits to the White House colored his thinking.

The visitor logs reveal Capehart on October 9, 2009, had a one-on-one meeting with public liaison Valerie Jarrett, four days later he was one of almost 400 guests at the Obamas' fiesta Latino event, and on January 27 he was one of eight people at a meeting with David Axelrod, senior adviser to the President.

Oh, one more little thing about that fiesta. The logs show that a Margaret K. Capehart was at it. Relative of Jonathan's? I can't say, but assuming she is, it's good to see him spread his access to family. I'd do the same if I was receiving invitations to the White House. Ole!

For all I know, Capehart may have been an Obama fan long before enjoying a few meetings and one party at the White House. He may not work at any Gay Inc org, but he is a key player in the games waged by Gay Inc, and his criticism of the vets at the fence sure get him a few more invitations from the administration.

32 Gays Went to WH Reception,
6-Days After Maine Loss

Those fabulous White House visitor logs are still of interest to me, because they're providing much-needed transparency about the Obama's administration and gay leaders, or gay appointees and congressional staffers, and who has White House access from the community.

To recap, the President and his administration offered no help at all to retain Maine's gay marriage rights that were on the November 3, 2009, ballot, and the day after we suffered another electoral defeat, HRC leaders attended a classical concert at the White House. Two nights after the loss, he had some NGLTF leaders over for a movie.

Today's news is that six days after the Maine loss, 32 gays from federal agencies and at least one from a congressional staff, attended what the visitor logs say was an LGBT reception.

Gee, what nice people Barack and Michelle are. As we gays mourned another setback at the ballot box, the charming couple quietly invited our community's leaders and appointees in the following week to a concert, a movie and reception. I can't think of any reason why the millions of ordinary gays in fly-over country, and lots more on the coasts, aren't satisfied with these symbolic crumbs of access and perks. Who needs job and housing protection when gay leaders enjoy socializing with the Obamas are their lovely home? Snark, snark.

Here's the list, with links to info on who they folks are and where they work, or question marks when I couldn't Google pertinent info on them, of the gay folks who on November 9, 2009, went to the President's smallish LGBT reception:

Saba Abebe
Office of Diversity
Department of Energy

Mark Agrast
Office of Legislative Affairs
Department of Justice

Christopher Busch
??

Matt Collier
Special Assistant to the Director
Office of Personnel and Management

Jonathan Cordone
Senior Vice President
Export-Import Bank

Sarah Dale
??

Virginia Davis
??

Michelle Depass
Special Assistant
Environmental Protection Agency

John Dey
??

Rashad Drakeford
Staff Assistant
Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-NY
[Correction: Drakeford has written to inform me that he is not gay. He says he's a straight guy and has a girlfriend. -michael.]

Lindsay Dubin
Campaign Organizer

Sarah Duffy
??

Carl Fillichio
Senior Public Affairs Adviser
Department of Labor

Gina Flores
??

Jonathan Foley
Senior Adviser to the Director
Office of Personnel and Management

Jose Garcia
??

Suzanne Gelderman
Associate Director, Small Businesses
Department of Energy

Cynthia Giles
Special Assistant
Environmental Protection Agency

Tracy Hannah
??

Camille Hazeur
Director, Civil Rights Division
Department of Transportation

Craig Hooks
Special Assistant
Environmental Protection Agency

Neal Kemkar
Special Assistant
Department of Labor

Courtnay Lewis
??

Jennifer Mason
Deputy Chief of Staff
Office of Personnel and Management

Marybeth Maxwell
Special Assistant
Department of Labor

Joan Padilla
??

Robert Perciasepe
Deputy Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency

Raymond Rivera
Special Assistant
Interior Department

Duncan Teater
Staffer
White House

Dorothy Vanderbeck
??

Sedelta Verble
Director, Office of Communications
Office of Personnel and Management

One of the funny things about this November 9 event is that neither the White House nor gay Obama supporters have said anything about it. Why keep such an event quiet? Well, as with the concert and movie night, the Obama administration and Gay Inc leaders are in agreement: The less visibility and attention about the schmoozing the better.

Day After Gays Lost Maine,
HRC Leaders at White House Concert

Fred Hochberg is a gay Democrat with a lotta bucks. A longtime board member and one-time co-chair of the board of the Human Rights Campaign, Hochberg is now head of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. He was appointed to that position by President Obama, and he has many policy and social reasons that draw him to the White House.

Visitor logs show that Hochberg has been at the Obama White House 13 times, up through the end of January 2010.

Hochberg was one of three gay leaders at a November 4, 2009, classical music concert with POTUS and FLOTUS. That was the day after we lost gay marriage rights in Maine, without Obama lifting one of his boney fingers to help us.

Hochberg, his partner Tom Healy, and current member of the HRC Foundation's board Mary S. Snider, all trooped up to the White House to hear old world classics. Nice.

We had just suffered our 32nd or 33rd gay ballot initiative, this time about marriages, and three of our Gay Inc leaders engaged in political business as usual with our Oval Office fierce advocate. Oops, sorry about that. The promised fierce advocate is MIA.

Then the next day, three NGLTF leaders took their tired asses up to the White House for a flick, and never told the community about it. Look, if gay leaders are going to be spending downtime with the President and his family at the White House, they have a solemn duty to inform the rest of us about it. Show us some photos from the screening.

More on Hochberg. He's was at four meetings where less than five people were present, and he's been at one event with 1,156 other people. On December 7, 2009, Hochberg attended the White House's Congressional Ball, which is the first Gay Inc name to show up in the logs for a ball.

Then on December 16 he was back for the Obamas' first reception to mark Hanukkah, also a first for a gay leader. Almost 600 showed up for that event.

Total number of visits for partner Healy is 5, coupled with Hochberg's 13, sub-totals to 18. Add that to the 172 visits from other Gay Inc types, and the total number of visits for these folks now stands at 190.

Photo-ops for Rea Carey and Joe Solmonese. Cocktail parties and bill signing ceremonies. A classical performance and sharing the popcorn bowl with Barack and Michelle. Let's us not forget about the ball we now know Hochberg and Healy were at.

The Gay Inc leaders sure know how to play limp-wristed politics with this White House.

May 17 IDAHO Kiss-In;
5 PM at Harvey Milk Plaza in SF

It gives me enormous pleasure to announce that gays in San Francisco will be participating in this year's IDAHO -- International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Held annually every May 17, because on that day in 1992, the World Health Organization removed gayness from the index of global diseases and related health problems, the 2010 version of IDAHO promises to be the best yet.

Here's the info on San Francisco's IDAHO action:

Date: Monday, May 17

What: Kiss-in & Solidarity Speak Out

Where: Harvey Milk Plaza, Market and Castro Streets

When: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

We will gather at the historic plaza to express our love for ourselves and our brothers and sisters around the planet, many of whom cannot engage in public displays of affection because of local laws or threats of violence.

The action, which will incorporate not just smooching, but hugging and hand-holding too, is sponsored and organized by Gays Without Borders/SF activist org, and the humanitarian relief agency Rainbow World Fund. Both groups collaborated on the IDAHO 2009 protest at the same location, calling for an end to the torture and murder of gay Iraqis.

An invitation to speak and lock lips on May 17 was extended to the lovely lesbian equal marriage activist Molly McKay and her dear wife Davina Kotulski, but they had to decline. Why?

Because they'll soon be leaving for a visit to Austria and the Czech Republic, where they'll be strategizing and networking with gays over there. Molly and Davina will be at the IDAHO action in Vienna. When those girls put their minds to supporting international activism and solidarity, they prove they really are willing to go quite far to join in the fun!

Get more info on all IDAHO 2010 actions around the world by clicking here and on the Great Global Kiss-In by clicking here. If you're near one of the cities on the list, join your local kiss-in. And if your city's name is missing, consider organizing an action yourself.

From gay Paree, IDAHO organizers have are using a video of a June 2009 kiss-in at the Eiffel Tower. It shows one way of how-to stage a kiss-in and make a video of it, and the organizers are asking everyone to create videos of their action and share it with them. The video:



Please, wherever you live, get to or stage an IDAHO action. It can be as small as two people kissing, or as large as dozens of gays at San Francisco's Harvey Milk Plaza. Do your part for global gay solidarity on May 17.

Gay Leader's Visit to the
White House Bowling Alley

What's in the White House visitor logs and of key interest to the gay community, continues to intrigue me. My looks at visits by leaders at the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, showed a mix serious and symbolic visits were made. The same can be said about a gay leader and highly-successful fundraiser for President Obama.



In the photo above of NGLTF's ED Rea Carey, stationed near where Obama was about to speak at the White House's gay cocktail party last June, a man stands guard over her. He is Jeremy Bernard, from Los Angeles, and he's partnered to Rufus Griffin, and they were profiled in a very informative profile from 2008 in the LA Weekly:

Bernard and Gifford have very little, if anything, in common with the Old Gay approach typified by the Human Rights Campaign's need for straight actresses to peddle an agenda. They are the new guard, or New Gays, who are more politically savvy. The New Gays cultivate, work with and fund gay political candidates. They withhold their talents and money from straight politicians who don't follow through on their promises, while supporting those with what they view as a progay track record.

And they never seek the straight world's approval for their own gay existence. The New Gays understand their power in today's political system, and they use it. And in this winter's slog of primaries, they just might use it to propel a candidate toward the White House.

Yes, Bernard was part of the successful team that got Obama to the White House, and he's had plenty of access to it. Visitor logs reveal Bernard's been to the White House 40 times, and many of the visits were described as "White House Liaison Meeting." It takes three clicks to view all of his visits here, here, and here. He's the director of the National Endowment for the Humanities, so it makes perfect sense that he would have reason to keep going to the White House for political meetings.

And his partner Gifford works at the Democratic National Committee, where he is the finance director. Looks like he's been at the White House nine times. These two are quite the Washington gay power couple.

But only Bernard enjoyed a visit to the White House bowling alley. On December 2, 2009, he was one of only 11 people bowling a few games at the White House, and records show the visitee was Grace Northern, who works in the personnel office. Gifford's visits don't list this event. Maybe he's not a bowler.

Let's add Bernard's 40 visits and Gifford's 9 to the 123 combined visits of HRC and NGLTF folks, and my running tally of White House visits by gay leaders now stands at 172.

Now, who in the gay community needs hardball political arm-twisting at the White House over Don't Ask, Don't Tell or employment protections with ENDA, and lots of other key gay concerns when our leaders are enjoying Presidential cocktail parties, a movie night and access to the bowling alley?

Obama's Movie Nite
With NGLTF's Carey

(Rea Carey waiting to hand a report to Obama at the White House on June 29, 2009; top photo. The President in front of Carey; bottom photo. Credit for both pictures: NGLTF.)

How important is Rea Carey, the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force? So important she, and her partner Margaret Conway, attended a private movie screening at the White House, with the President and First Lady on November 5, 2009.

Yep, two days after we lost gay marriage in Maine, during a ballot initiative battle in which Obama refused to publicly stand with gay against the measure, Carey and Conway went to the White House for a very exclusive movie screening. Also there was NGLTF's Julie Childs.

I'm just pointing out the interesting timing of when select gay leaders have been to the White House. I wonder if our leaders expressed any political views that night, or if the event was strictly social.

As I did with the other professional advocacy org in Washington, the Human Rights Campaign, I scoured White House visitor logs to see how many visits were made by former and current NGLTF executives, staff and board members. I believe the logs are current through the end of January 2010.

There were at least 19 White House visits by the NGLTF-affiliated folks:

Name: (Kimberly) Rea Carey
Visits: 5

Name: Brad Jacklin, Urvashi Vaid
Visits: 3

Name: Darlene Nipper
Visits: 2

Name: Marsha Botzer, Julie Childs, Dan Hawes, Andrew Machado, Russell Roybal, Lee H. Rubin,
Visits: 1

If we add the 19 NGLTF visits with the number of HRC visits, 104, the total comes to 123 visits. And what do the rest of us gays have to show for it? How have we benefited from the access extended to our professional lobbyists and advocates?

White House access for our leaders is commendable and I hope NGLTF and HRC, and others privileged to spend time at the White House, explain if that access is translating into tangible results for the community.

White House Logs: 100+ HRC Visits

Last night over at Pam Spaulding's House Blend blog, she tied my recent look at the White House visitor logs pertaining to Human Rights Campaign leaders to a column by David Mixner.

Feels odd to be in bed, politically speaking, with Pam and David because I feel my views to be of a more radical bent than theirs, but it feels fabulous that Pam makes a point that should scare some sense into the HRC crowd. That point is that three very diverse gay thinkers and activists agree on one big thing: We want real leadership from HRC and no more kowtowing to the Obama administration and other Democrats.

David writes about one of many recent problems created by HRC that drives the divisions between them and much of the gay community:

At the height of this battle, for some reason Joe Solmonese traveled to London with the vote on ENDA, according to HRC happening in the next couple of weeks. Maybe there was a good reason or maybe Joe wasn't busy, but image is everything. This image leaves an impression of not leading and trusting too much in others. Joe: stay home, make this happen and restore our faith in HRC or get out.

Given that there has been no sighting of Solmonese in the community or on Capitol Hill or anywhere frankly, since he appeared via satellite from the UK a week ago Thursday on a gay leadership panel, I don't expect a miracle of him and HRC getting spines. Is he back on American soil? Other than the HRC p.r. cranking out a standard statement from him on Friday, what has he been up to, as our leader?

As we wait for answers, let's revisit the White House visitor logs because on Friday afternoon, thousands of new names and visits were made available for public inspection. I went over the logs and below have updated my earlier list of HRC visits.

Solmonese's visits climbed to 19, Raben's up by 2, Rosen's went up by one, as did Smith's and Moulton's. In the two-visits category, board member Gwen Baba is now included. New HRC names, with one visit each, for tours of the White House, have been added to the list of single-visit names.

Latest total of visits by HRC people? 104.

Name: Joe Solmonese
Visits: 19

Name: Hilary Rosen
Visits: 11

Name: Ty Cobb
Visits: 8

Name: David M. Smith
Visits: At least 8, maybe more.

Name: Terry Bean
Visits: 7

Name: Robert Raben
Visits: 6

Name: Brian Moulton,
Visits: 5

Name: Vic Basile
Visits: 4

Name: Allison Herwitt, Harry Knox
Visits: 3

Name: Phil Attey, Michael Palmer, Donna Payne, Judy Shepard, Mary Snider, David Stacy. New name added: Gwen Baba.
Visits: 2

Name: Elizabeth Birch, Ken Britt, Marjorie Chorlins, Stampp Corbin, Darrin Hurwitz, John Isa, Dana Perlman, Elizabeth Pursell, Marty Rouse, Susanne Salkind, Meghan Stabler, Cuc Vu, David L. Wilson. New names added: Kim Allman, Michael Cole, Darrin Hurwitz, Ellen Kahn, Sharon Groves, Samir Luther, Sultan Shakir, David Turley.
Visits: 1

If you know if and how these visits have benefited millions of gay people, kindly share that info with me. Other than warm memories and photo-ops for the HRC folks, what have the rest of gained by such high-volume access to White House meetings, cocktail parties and tours?