Joe Solmonese Wins Fashion Award

Washington Life Magazine has named HRC executive director Joe Solomnese the "Elegant Activist" in its annual fashion awards.

John Aravosis at AmericaBlog:

And who says the emperor has no clothes. It would almost be funny if the Human Rights Campaign hadn't actually cooperated with the "award" by telling the magazine who Solmonese's favorite designers were (Ann Demeulemeester, Billy Reid, and Dolce and Gabbana). Wouldn't it be neat if HRC's president won an activism award for his activism?

Pam Spaulding vents:

I guess it's just a different game up in DC; or maybe not. Dan Choi wasn't the one of the best dressed gay men in DC the other day as he sat in jail along with former Army captain Jim Pietrangelo -- and roaches scurrying around their cell, so I take it that it's not a job requirement to be an activist or advocate with that je ne sais quoi unless you spend more time in ballrooms and boardrooms "for the cause," as it were. I'm pretty sure Dr. King didn't need designer togs when he picked up the Nobel Peace Prize, but I guess times were different then. You know, the whole dogs and hoses thing would do damage to Dolce and Gabbana wear. Maybe HRC donors want its leader to have fashion sense, and feed into the notion that we're all rich and ready to schmooze, as opposed to a less ostentatious model of what gay leadership is in 2010.

It does strike one as being particularly tone-deaf to the criticisms that the HRC is populated by and only listens to the elite A-gays.