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In response to Daily Beast’s Jason Bellini’s claim (attributed to unnamed sources) that the HRC has been trying to delay a Congressional repeal of DADT in exchange for the passing of the hate crimes bills, HRC’s Michael Cole has issued a statement denying the charge:

This story is not only an outright lie, it is recklessly irresponsible. HRC never made such a deal and continues to work with congress and the administration on a full range of equality issues including a swift end to the military’s shameful ban on gay servicemembers.

Only thing is that a few weeks ago Michelangelo Signorile interviewed the Palm Center’s Aaron Belkin (recall that the Palm Center recently released the study that proved Obama could stop DADT discharges immediately). During that interview, Belkin claimed the very same thing reported by Jason Bellini – that HRC has lobbied members of Congress to not move on DADT and to focus on hate crimes legislation.

And, yesterday, just before the Daily Beast article came out, Joe Solmonese requested a same-day appearance on Signorile’s show.

Signorile asked Solmonese about Belkin’s, and Solmonese denied it, although Signorile writes, ” . . . for accuracy’s sake I should state that I asked him specifically about lobbying the White House on the issue and not Congress.”

From the Signorile/Belkin interview:

AB: “…Our major national gay rights organizations — it would be one thing to say nothing, but there is pro-active lobbying on the hill for Congress not to consider [the "don't ask, don't tell"] issue. And so the community has been appalling on this issue.

MS: Have you seen any response from any of those groups, and I guess we’re talking about the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, other Washington groups?

AB:…We’ve heard from so many offices that not only are they not doing anything but they’re pro-actively lobbying against consideration of the issue. I feel very confident in saying that.

You can listen to both the Solmonese and the Belkin interviews on on Signorile’s site.

You can also check out Solmonese’s appearance yesterday on Hardball, where he discussed DADT.