Jonathan Katz Cut From Oil Spill Team

Mere hours after the gay blogosphere reacted in disgust to the appointment of "proud homophobe" and physicist Jonathan I. Katz to the Obama administration's oil spoil team, the Department of Energy has canned him. Chris Geidner at Metro Weekly reports:

The news came after what the [DOE] spokesperson, Stephanie Mueller, termed ''controversial writings'' – which included a ''defense of homophobia'' – spread out over the web on Monday, writings of which she said the Department was unaware when it sought his assistance. On May 12, Energy Secretary Steven Chu ''assembled a group of top scientific experts from inside and outside of government to join in today's discussions in Houston about possible solutions,'' according to a Department news release. Katz was one of five outside scientists noted in the release. Bloomberg News reported about the group of scientists on May 14, reporting Chu ''signaled his lack of confidence in the industry experts trying to control BP Plc's leaking oil well by hand-picking a team of scientists with reputations for creative problem solving."

Credit for Katz' outster likely goes to AmericaBlog's John Aravosis, who earlier today launched a petition campaign against Katz' appointment.