Jun 27, 2008  |  By: CHRIS JOHNSON  | COMMENTS     

DOJ Pride, the association for gay employees at the Justice Department, held its first Pride event in five years at the department’s Great Hall last week.

Bush administration officials had barred the celebration from taking place in the Great Hall since 2003.
The event was allowed to resume this year because U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey in January revised the equal-employment-opportunity policy barring discrimination in the department.

Mukasey delivered a speech at the event touting the inclusiveness of the Justice Department toward gay employees.

The attorney general said “men and women of different backgrounds, including different sexual orientations” comprise the lawyers, law enforcement agents and other staff in the Justice Department.

“The theme of today’s event is ‘Pride is for Everyone’ and it is a theme I embrace because all employees in the Justice Department have a right to be proud of who they are and the work they do here,” he said.

Mukasey did not use the word “gay” or the acronym “LGBT” during his speech.

The attorney general’s policy toward gays in the Justice Department workforce reverses the policies of previous Bush administration attorneys general John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales.

The former attorneys general barred DOJ Pride from having Pride celebrations in the Great Hall without covering costs and prohibited the association from posting notices of meetings on department bulletin boards.