Howard Dean has just discovered that he has a "scheduling conflict" that will to prevent him from attending tomorrow night's DNC big gay fundraiser in Washington D.C. Dean, the former head of the DNC, was one of the four announced hosts of the event, which means this fundraiser was on his schedule for a long, long time. The other three hosts are openly gay representatives Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, and Jared Polis. They should pull out as well. Says John...

It's interesting that the very heterosexual Howard Dean is willing to take a stronger stand for civil rights than our own gay elected representatives, Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, and Jared Polis. That Howard Dean is willing to take a stronger stand for the gay community than the following who are still attending, or have lent their name to the event:

Suze Orman
Elizabeth Birch
Virginia Governor / DNC Chair Tim Kaine
Chairman Barney Frank
Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis
District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty
NBJC's Alexander Robinson (while NBJC has said that none of their board of directors will be attending, it's not clear what Robinson's current role is with the organization, nor whether he has yet decided whether to pull out or not)
GMHC's Marjorie Hill
Iraq Marine vet Brian Fricke (whom you may have seen on 60 Minutes)
Billy Bean
Former GLAAD head Joan Garry
Keith Boykin
Ray Buckley
Brian Johnson
Former SLDN head Dixon Osburn
Paul Smith
Krystal Bal

Polis, to his credit, refused to let Obama use him as a human shield at his bogus "federal benefits" dog-and-pony show in the Oval Office last week. Here's hoping that Polis has the balls to pull out of this event too.