The anti-gay, right wing group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) will present “raw and unedited” footage shot at this year’s Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco at the National Press Club at 1 p.m. tomorrow. AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera specifically targets Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi with this conference, urging her “to do the right thing by condemning the public nudity and perversions — and blatant anti-Christian bigotry — that occurred in her…

Hoyer and Pelosi Need Your Input: Mike Panetta, D.C. Shadow Representative, informed us that voting rights activists are pushing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to bring the voting rights legislation that was derailed last week back to the floor of the House this week. They’re afraid that if it gets pushed off until next week, it may well get lost in the usual congressional shuffle. Panetta has…

So you’re all probably wondering what the heck is up with the debate on the voting rights legislation. Well, it seems that the Republicans may have played a brilliant game of politics. Towards the end of the debate, which was slated to end a little after 2 p.m., Republicans attempted to introduce an amendment to the legislation which would nullify the District’s gun laws. This isn’t anything new — they’ve tried many times before –…

It was just two weeks ago that hundreds of District residents gathered to lobby Congress into passing legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House. There seemed to be some momentum; all that was missing was for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to schedule a vote. But as is often the case with the District’s uphill quest for enfranchisement, the legislation has his a snag. Roll Call, via FreeRide, is…

Though the District continued its slow crawl back to normalcy after Tuesday night’s ice storm, hundreds of District residents and supporters fanned out in Congress to lobby for legislation that would grant the city a voting seat in the House of Representatives. Part of a lobby day sponsored by D.C. Vote, the almost 400 residents divided up into 50 teams and aimed to visit every member of the House, bringing with them a simple message…

Around the time of last year’s State of the Union address, we asked whether then-Mayor Anthony Williams should have foregone attending the annual event as a guest of First Lady Laura Bush, to make clear his continuing disappointment with the District’s lack of voting rights. Some commenters thought the idea preposterous, with one going as far as to opine: Of course the mayor should attend. What the f*ck is boycotting it going to accomplish? Do…

With the District’s smoking ban now in force throughout the city’s bars and restaurants, pretty much the only option for smokers set on enjoying a quick cigarette without heading outside was getting elected to Congress. Today, that changed. The Hill reports that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi officially banned smoking in the Speaker’s Lobby, an ornate room beside the House chamber that for decades has been the refuge of smokers in Congress. The Post…

The debate over voting rights for the District’s delegate in Congress is bubbling up at the very beginning of the 110th Congress. Under the newly minted Democratic-controlled Congress, it seems we here in Washington are closer than ever to obtaining full-fledged representation in the House of Representatives. This morning at the ceremonial swearing-in of the Congressional Black Caucus, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi specifically mentioned D.C. voting rights in her remarks, prompting a standing…

It seemed like it would be our year. After lobbying throughout most of 2006, voting rights activists and their allies in Congress had all but convinced House Republicans to go along with a plan to grant the District one voting seat in the House of Representatives. The relevant congressional committees had signed off on the legislation; Utah, which would similarly gain a seat in a partisan tit-for-tat exchange, formally endorsed the idea; President Bush indicated…