What’s been playing out in private conversations for months is now definitely — and defiantly — going public. The feud between the Human Rights Campaign (America’s most ineffective lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy group) and Servicemembers United (the DADT repeal group founded by gay veterans, and which once got paid by HRC to head up DADT repeal tours) used to be kept under wraps by common courtesy, and the unwritten rule among LGBT activists that they appear to be unified to the public. Except that’s a fat phony lie: most advocacy groups, even those you’d throw under the Gay Inc. umbrella, are exhausted with HRC’s foibles. And after HRC spokesflack Fred Sainz (pictured, top) released a statement attacking Nicholson for his “unproductive behavior” in demanding Valerie Jarrett meet with gay troops before her HRC dinner speech, a merry band of gay veterans have released this doozy of a reply. It’s the ultimate of fuck yous.

To All Concerned: On Saturday, October 9, the spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) launched a personal attack against Servicemembers United’s founder and Executive

Director, Alex Nicholson. The previous day, Nicholson, who is one of the nation’s leading “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) repeal advocates, had called out the White House for its lack of substantive action and support this year on DADT and called on Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett to meet with DADT repeal advocates. Instead of supporting the call for dialogue and greater White House accountability, the Human Rights Campaign’s official spokesperson made personal attacks and demanded

that our community heap gratitude and praise upon the White House for where we are today on DADT. This attack was unprofessional, immature, and unproductive itself, and

it was alienating and insulting to the entire LGBT military and veteran community. Like Nicholson, and unlike HRC’s spokesperson or any of its leadership, each of us has served this nation in uniform and each of us has been directly impacted by DADT. We, as

27 of the nation’s most prominent DADT repeal activists of the past two decades have also worked to help make this discriminatory law a part of history. No matter the

disagreement on strategy, we will not tolerate an attack against one of our own. We are united as veterans to fight “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” with effectiveness, diligence, and

veracity. And we are determined to see legislative repeal this year, with or without HRC. Our brothers and sisters still serving in silence deserve nothing less.

Ahem: Signed,

Dan Choi

Westpoint Graduate, Discharged Under DADT

DADT Repeal Advocate Jason Knight

Hebrew Linguist, Discharged Under DADT

DADT Repeal Advocate Darren Manzella

US Army, Discharged Under DADT

DADT Repeal Advocate Steve Lorandos

Petty Officer, 2nd Class – Submarines, US Navy

DADT Repeal Advocate Brian Fricke

USMC, Discharged Under DADT

DADT Repeal Advocate Brian Muller

Army Bomb Technician, Discharged Under DADT

DADT Repeal Advocate Alastair Gamble

Arabic Linguist, Discharged Under DADT

DADT Repeal Advocate Anthony Wilfert

Discharged Under DADT

DADT Repeal Advocate Brett Edward Stout

USMC Russian Linguist, Veteran

DADT Repeal Advocate Rob Smith

US Army Infantryman, Veteran

DADT Repeal Advocate Keith Meinhold

Petty Officer, 1st Class – Aviation – US Navy

DADT Repeal Advocate Justin Elzie

USMC Veteran, Discharged Under DADT

DADT Repeal Advocate Ben Gomez

Petty Officer, 2nd Class – Legalman, US Navy

President, AVER, San Diego Mara Stewart

Petty Officer, 1st Class – Linguist, US Navy

DADT Repeal Advocate Julianne Sohn

USMC Comms.Officer, Discharged Under DADT

DADT Repeal Advocate Julie Mendoza

US Air Force, Retired

DADT Repeal Advocate Tanya Domi

US Army Veteran, Columbia Univ. Professor

DADT Repeal Advocate Anu Baghwati

USMC Communications Officer, Veteran

Executive Director, SWAN Jenn Hogg

Army National Guard, Veteran

DADT Repeal Advocate Jarrod Chlapowski

US Army Korean Linguist, Veteran

Field Director, Servicemembers United Larry Baxley

US Navy Intelligence Officer, Veteran

Former VA Veteran Field Organizer, HRC Justin D. Ford

US Army Veteran, Straight DADT Repeal Ally

Former North FL Veteran Field Organizer, HRC Walker Burttschell

USMC Veteran, Discharged Under DADT

Former South FL Veteran Field Organizer, HRC Gabriel Knous

USMC Veteran

Former Orlando Veteran Field Organizer, HRC Scott Spychala

USAF/ANG, Retired

Former IN Veteran Field Organizer, HRC Pepe Johnson

US Army Field Artillery, Discharged Under DADT

Former WV Veteran Field Organizer, HRC Rasool Mutawakkil, Jr.

US Army Veteran, Straight DADT Repeal Ally

Former Tampa Veteran Field Organizer, HRC

As we pointed out today, attacking Nicholson is part of HRC’s new strategy to distract everybody from its immobile Democratic friends and instead turn the attention not just to enemies who hold no public office (like NOM and the Mormon Church), but repeal advocates who are actually getting shit done. Nicholson, after all, is among the plaintiffs in the Log Cabin Republicans’ lawsuit that just had Don’t Ask Don’t Tell declared unconstitutional. The Human Rights Campaign could only hope, by tossing a penny into an abandoned swimming pool, to have such results.