I know I’m just perpetuating the conservative myth that liberals can only use ad hominem attacks when arguing, but I gotta say it : John Ashcroft is an asshole :

Homosexual employees of the US Department of Justice have been forbidden to hold an annual “Gay Pride” event at the department’s headquarters, a gay DoJ employee said Friday.

Attorney General John Ashcroft “will not allow us to hold our annual pride ceremony in the building,” said Melissa Schraibman, who works in Justice Department’s tax division.

The Justice Department has held gay pride events at the Department headquarters annually since the early 1990s, when Bill Clinton — a gay rights supporter — was president and Janet Reno the US attorney general.
. . .
According to Schraibman, the prohibition is “in accord with a new department policy that prohibits commemoration unless it is supported by a presidential proclamation.”

“This is something we have never heard of before,” she said. “It doesn’t exist in writing yet.”

Schraibman said that other groups of DoJ employees — including those belonging to ethnic or special interest groups — continue to use the Department building as a meeting place.

I guess this is the kind of reaction we should expect from someone so prude he’s offended by statue boobies.