Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese appeared on satellite
radio host Michelangelo Signorile's show on Wednesday to address
accusations that he's elitist and fails to represent all LGBT people.

Signorile took Solmonese to task for his laudatory attitude toward President Barack Obama, who gave a long-awaited speech to attendees of the HRC annual fund-raiser on the eve of the National March for Equality in Washington, D.C. While Obama did repeat that he is in favor of repealing the military's ban on openly gay service members, "nothing new" was said, Signorile pointed out.

"Obama reiterated that he's working with military leadership and Congress, that he's working to overturn 'don't ask, don't tell,'" Solmonese said. "No matter what bill goes we want to make law, it still has to go through the same process."

He added that he had worked alongside members of Congress like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who insisted that in order for hate-crimes legislation to pass by October, it had to be attached to the Department of Defense spending bill. Other pieces of legislation, which must be passed legislatively, would have to use the same strategy to pass, he said.