Bush's Justice Dept. blacklisted LGBT groups

Applicants for Justice Department internships and honors programs may have been rejected based on their membership in LGBT groups during the Bush administration, the Blade has learned. Numerous applicants were denied entry to the department's Honors Program and the summer intern program starting in 2006 because of their previous work in what were deemed to be liberal organizations, according to an internal Justice Department report issued last year. The practice occurred while Attorney General Alberto Gonzales led the department. The Blade recently learned that among the blacklisted groups was Immigration Equality, which focuses on LGBT-related immigration issues. Also blacklisted was the immigration project for the Gay Men's Health Crisis. "The findings of this Department of Justice investigation are disturbing," said Sean Cahill, a Gay Men's Health Crisis director. "If anything, the opportunities for interns to work on immigration law at Gay Men's Health Crisis, and provide legal services to immigrants living with HIV, makes one more qualified, not less, to serve in the Department of Justice."