In the brick-and-mortar world, the two crossdressers in “Work It” would be having uncomfortable discussions with the HR department of their new employer about transitioning in the workplace, including issues regarding public accommodations — to include restrooms. They would likely at least face workplace harassment, and if they lived in the 35 states without employment protections based on gender identity, they may even have been fired without recourse for being trans.

A campaign seeking to open up a dialogue about marriage equality launches with videos featuring prominent black allies. This one starts with civil rights leader, Julian Bond. Will it reach some black voters that are on the fence about the issue?

My avatar on this post reflects the fact that I’m one of those purported “Cheetos-stained pajamas-wearing bloggers living in a basement” people that earn the scorn in some quarters of the establishment LGBT world. You know, the folks that believe that citizen journalists apparently do nothing for the movement except but sit in our PJs on our plump @sses, and criticize fill-in-the-blank hard working people in the movement doing “real work” to advance equality. And it goes without saying that said bloggers just don’t know anything about doing deals inside the Beltway either. And when we do make a difference, it’s rarely acknowledged because it would mean we’re actually part of the movement.

With Joe Solmonese’ departure now comes an extraordinary opportunity to make HRC a powerful and effective force into the 21st Century. The organization must not only do a ‘search’ for a new CEO but really must also take time to decide its goals for the next decade. Instead of finding a ‘qualified candidate’ for the job, it is time for a visionary job description that will lead us to the right candidate.

One must wonder, will the new HRC leader be more vocal when democrats fail to actively work for equality? Too often democrats ask for money and votes from the gay community while making great promises to support our equality – only to fail to work for equality once elected. What good is nice words when they are followed with no action? What good is a GLBT organization that refuses to press our political leadership on our behalf because it doesn’t want to make waves?

Yes, it’s the end of an era. Pam’s House Blend has learned, from a trusted source in a position to know the details, that Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization in the country, will announce his departure next Tuesday. Solmonese will reportedly step down from the organization in December of this year.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined comment Monday on questions on President Obama’s position on widely discredited “ex-gay” reparative therapy aimed at changing gay individuals into being straight.

Under questioning from the Washington Blade, Carney said he hasn’t had any conversations with the president on reparative therapy — or whether Medicaid funding should support the practice — and deferred inquiries to the Department of Health & Human Services.

This is the kind of direct action the cocktail-weinie set finds most unsettling: real people yelling real questions about real issues while they dart in and out of elite DeeCee hotels for secret meetings with issues lobbyists and White House staffers who aren’t doing much of anything at all to advance the issues they are raising money on throughout the year.

The much greater problem with Valerie Jarrett’s comments is that they reveal Jarrett to be unfamiliar with the discourse in the LGBT community for the past 40 years.

The Human Rights Campaign, reliable lapdogs for the Obama White House and their lack of progress on LGBT issues, bothered to chastise GOP Senate candidate in Colorado Ken Buck — on Sunday! — for his remarks on NBC’s Meet the Press that being gay was a “choice.”