The assaults on gay, bisexual and transgendered citizens just keep coming. The latest is from the office of the new Special Counsel, Scott Bloch. Bloch, using a ridiculously literal and narrow interpretation of a 1978 law, has announced that gay and bisexual federal employees are no longer protected from adverse personnel actions.

(One cannot help but wonder how an employer would go about determining who in her employ was bisexual. Is there some kind of test to figure out who is hip and experimenting and who is a pervert?)

According to Bloch, a new Bush appointee, there is a viable distinction between discrimination based on sexual orientation and discrimination based on conduct. In other words, as of this week, you can be fired for being gay (but not for attending a gay pride event--isn't that good to know?). Former Special Counsel Elaine Kaplan called Bloch's interpretation "absurd."

I call it just another loving kiss on the diseased ass of the religious right.