Politics: These People Don't Even Backtrack Well

The Justice Department, ahem, clarified its position on Gay Pride, announcing that they weren't opposed to having gay pride events they just hated gay people. No wait, they just didn't want to pay for them. The AP catches the flip:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General John Ashcroft will allow gay and lesbian Justice Department employees to hold an annual gathering at agency headquarters if they foot the bill, a move critics said Tuesday was a clumsy reversal of a previous decision.

Officials with the group DOJ Pride said last week that they were told the awards ceremony could not be held in the agency's Great Hall next Wednesday.

But agency spokesman Mark Corallo said the intention was not to block the group from holding the event, only to make it clear it would not be officially sponsored by the department. That means the group's members must pay any costs themselves.

"They will not be officially sponsored this year, just like every other group," Corallo said. "They took that to mean they couldn't have the event."

Silly gay people. How could they have misconstrued being told that they could not hold their annual event this month at the department's Great Hall because the White House had not formally recognized Gay Pride Month with a presidential proclamation for actually being told they could not hold their annual event this month at the department's Great Hall?