The Washington Blade, a weekly newspaper, published a cover story, ” DNC Lawsuit Ensnares Lesbian Activist, Donor” which arose from a defamation and employment discrimination lawsuit filed by a Bernabei & Kabat client, Donald Hitchcock, against his former employer, the Democratic National Committee. In that lawsuit, a witness, Claire Lucas, was served with a deposition subpoena in November 2007, but she filed a motion to quash that subpoena in which she claimed that she was a resident of California, not D.C., since 2005. Mr. Hitchcock filed an opposition to her motion to quash, which pointed out that Ms. Lucas owned property in D.C., for which she took the homeowners’ deduction (which requires the owner to be a legal resident of D.C.); was registered to vote in D.C. and voted in the D.C. elections as recently as September 2006; held positions with the Clinton campaign and the National Stonewall Democrats by virtue of being a D.C. resident; and otherwise held herself out to the public as a resident of D.C., not of California.
The Washington Blade also published an editorial, ” Democrats’ Gay Problem” which criticized the Democratic National Committee’s cavalier and unjustified treatment of Mr. Hitchcock, and gays and lesbians more generally, based on evidence obtained in Mr. Hitchcock’s lawsuit.
