Attorney General Gives Gay Pride Group Same Rights as Others
Attorney General Michael Mukasey has reversed a five-year-old decision that had banned a gay pride group from using Justice Department e-mail, bulletin boards and meeting rooms.
The group DOJ Pride had been allowed to meet in the Justice Department’s Great Hall during the Clinton years, but under the Bush administration it was told it could not use the space unless it paid $2,000, the Washington Post reports. Notices of a skating event and meetings could not be placed on bulletin boards, and the group’s gay pride month celebration was banned.
In reversing those policies, Mukasey said DOJ Pride would have the same rights as other groups, the story says. He also changed the department’s equal opportunity policy (PDF) to bar discrimination against any group. The policy says recruiting and hiring programs will be conducted “in a fair and consistent manner on the basis of merit.”
The policy says the department will “foster an environment in which diversity is valued, understood and sought.”
