WASHINGTON (AP) — Civil rights groups and a senator criticized the Justice Department on June 6 for rejecting plans by an employee group to hold a gay pride event at the agency’s headquarters. The department reversed that decision June 10.

Departmental officials had refused to allow DOJ Pride, which represents about 200 gay and lesbian Justice employees, to hold its annual meeting this year in the department’s Great Hall, where it has been held for several years. The denial was first reported June 6 in The New York Times.

Marina Colby, president of DOJ Pride, said the group was notified it could not hold its annual Gay Pride Month awards ceremony June 18 in the Great Hall because of a policy change from Attorney General John Ashcroft’s office.

Colby, a policy analyst, said she was told that the new policy prohibits such commemorations unless they are supported by a presidential proclamation. Unlike President Clinton, Bush has not designated a month to commemorate gay pride.

“We do remain hopeful that the decision will be reversed,” Colby said prior to the June 10 reversal. “We want to be treated the same as the other employee associations.”

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) urged Ashcroft to reconsider the decision and threatened legislation if the matter weren’t resolved. Lautenberg also invited Justice employees barred from the event to celebrate Gay Pride Month with him on Capitol Hill.

“I find it particularly outrageous that the Department of Justice, whose mission is to ensure fairness for all Americans, would deprive its own staff members of the right to gather on public property,” Lautenberg wrote in a letter to Ashcroft.

Lautenberg noted that Ashcroft was asked by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) during his confirmation hearing in September 2001 whether he would continue to allow DOJ Pride to hold its annual meeting at the department’s headquarters, as other groups and minority employees are permitted.

Ashcroft responded, “It would be my intention not to discriminate against any group that appropriately constituted in the Department of Justice.”

The Justice Department would not comment June 6 except to say the decision was made internally.

Matt Coles, director of the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, said the decision would have violated the Justice Department’s own nondiscrimination policy, which promises to eliminate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Though the Justice Department reversed the decision, the event still will not be sponsored by the department, as those of other groups currently are. “The new policy is still a step backward,” said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg.

“DOJ is being treated differently than other agency groups that have the full sponsorship of the department.”

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Larry Thompson, the No. 2 official at Justice, spoke at last year’s DOJ Pride event, and his appearance drew criticism from some conservative groups — including those who criticized Ashcroft for allowing Thompson to speak.