President Barack Obama agrees that the Department of Justice’s decision to use Gen. Collin Powell’s past support for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) to defend a policy he no longer agrees with is “odd,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at today’s White House press briefing. Gibbs stressed that the DOJ must uphold current law, but admitted that the legal challenge to DADT (Log Cabin Republicans v. United States) places the government in the awkward position of defending a policy the administration does not support:

KERRY ELEVELD (THE ADVOCATE): Is the president at all concerned that DOJ is a little insular or tone deaf on issues that are sort of politically sticky, especially those of interest to the LGBT community?

GIBBS: I will say this, obviously the President has enunciated his support for ending “don’t ask, don’t tell,” rolling back — made a commitment to roll back DOMA in the campaign. Obviously, the Justice Department has — is charged with upholding the law as it exists, not as the President would like to see it. We have obviously taken steps on the front of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and I think we’ve made a genuine amount of progress. I will say, was it odd that they included previous statements from General Colin Powell on a belief set that he no longer had? I don’t think the President would disagree with that.

Watch it:

Gibbs’ comments may be refreshing, but the administration’s refusal to lay out a time line for repealing DADT and its complete reliance on the Pentagon’s policy review suggests that the President is not planning on turning the the DOJ debacle into an opportunity. Obama could argue that the DOJ’s reliance on Powell’s outdated arguments and debunked conservative talking points undermines the credibility of the government and hurts the repeal effort. He could announce that he’s calling on Congress to insert repeal legislation into this year’s Defense Authorization bill to meet his administration’s commitment to civil rights and equality and keep his pledge to the LGBT community. (Incidentally, CAP’s Larry Korb has laid out eight areas where the military must change rules and regulations in order to effectively implement the new policy in short order.) But, from the tone of Gibbs’ answer, this is unlikely. The administration will silently watch as the DOJ defends the policy it’s promised to overturn.

Meanwhile, Palm Center Director Aaron Belkin and Senior Fellow Nathaniel Frank, who recently gave depositions in this case are claiming that the DOJ misrepresented their arguments about “whether privacy concerns for service members constituted a rational basis for the enactment of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 1993.” Palm’s House Blend reports that attorneys representing the Log Cabin Republicans “now plan to use new depositions by Belkin and Frank in its response to the DOJ brief.” Read them here.

In Britain, Tory leader David Cameron’s efforts to reach out to gay voters have become almost comical in their failure. Last month, Cameron sat for an interview with a gay magazine to promote the party’s alleged move to the left on social and equality issues, but paused the interview after he fumbled an answer about the Tories’ voting record on gay equality. Then, a Tory MP was secretly recorded as saying that “people who ran bed and breakfasts in their homes should ‘have the right’ to turn away homosexual couples,” and now the the UK Metro is reporting that Cameron “left out a reference to gay people he was supposed to make in his speech kick-starting the Tories’ election campaign.”

The original text of the speech, which was distributed to reporters, included a direct mention of gays and other minorities, but Cameron forgot to mention the group during delivery:

AS PREPARED: ‘We’re fighting this election for the Great Ignored – young, old, rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight.’

AS DELIVERED: ‘They may be black or white, they may be rich or poor, they may live in the town or country.’

The omission comes as Cameron hopes to convince voters that the conservatives have changed on issues of civil equality. “The party has changed and I think all center-right parties, all conservative parties have to go on this journey and I think we’ve probably gone a bit further and faster than some conservative parties in other countries and there won’t be any turning back. So I understand the concern, but I think the change that’s happened is real, lasting and irreversible,” Cameron said in that ill-fated interview with Gay Times magazine.

The party’s fumbles, however, are undermining Cameron’s new rhetorical pledge and the party’s popularity among gay voters. “According to UK gay news source Pink News, support for the Conservative party among gay voters has fallen 5% in the past month.” Today, Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed that the general election will be held on May 6.

California lawmakers are working to abolish an antiquated law that requires doctors to look into “the causes and cures of homosexuality.” The state adopted the law in 1950 “in response to public outcry over sex crimes in California” and added the homosexuality provision as part of a broader effort to to study the psyche of sexual predators. As Bonnie Lowenthal, the Assemblywoman who’s spearheading the repeal explained in this LA Times piece, “In 1950, homosexuality remained, officially, a mental disorder. So when the Legislature promised funding for a study into the causes and cures of sexual deviance, it was, tragically, natural to add homosexuality to the list.”

Taking homosexuality off that list should be a no-brainer, but this afternoon, CNN — which has tried to present itself as the “hard news” cable network and “the most trusted name in news” — hosted a debate between discredited “ex gay” Richard Cohen and Lowenthal to ask, “homosexuality, is it a problem in need of a cure?”

“Tell me why it’s offensive to you, tell me why you wanted to take action right away when you heard about it,” host Kyra Phillips pressed Lowenthal, while seemingly accepting Cohen’s claim that he’s a “former homosexual.” Watch it:

Clearly, “the best political team on television” was just not at its best, proving that CNN can’t be “trusted” to do even the most preliminary background research on its guests. The network provided the self-proclaimed former homosexual with a platform to promote his organization, the International Healing Foundation, without once challenging his credentials or claims of rehabilitation. In reality, Cohen has been kicked out of the The American Counseling Association and currently operates without any professional license or accreditation. His views on homosexuality have been discredited by every established medical organization and his ideas about gays are apparently only taken seriously by CNN bookers and producers.