Two Gun-Rights Advocate Groups Part of Gay Couple’s Colorado Lawsuit

A gay New Jersey couple is bringing a gun-rights advocate group into their lawsuit against a political campaign that stole a copyrighted picture of the couple kissing and skewed it negatively against gay rights.

The couple, Brian Edwards and Thomas Privitere, were horrified when they found out that a photo of the two kissing in front of a New York City skyline had been altered negatively in an attack against two Colorado legislative candidates, Jean White and state House candidate Jeff Hare. The altered photo was sent out as mailers with the words “”State Senator Jean White’s idea of ‘family values?'” plastered across it.

“We are here today for all families,” Edwards said. “Our family is a family, too. It may be different from yours but we should still be completely equal.”

The couple filed suit against Public Advocate of the United States, the Virginia-based group responsible for the ad, and is now naming Dudley Brown and his gun ally Luke O’Dell as witnesses in the federal lawsuit, resulting in a subpoena of their two gun organizations, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and National Association for Gun Rights. The subpoena seeks a variety of documents from Brown and O’Dell and their organizations, but the gun advocates are fighting it, saying it is too invasive.

The subpoena is seeking contracts, letters, handwritten notes, expense reports, computer documents, telephone logs and more.

Brown responded to an e-mail from the Denver Post about being a potential witness by the Virginia firm.

“I can volunteer my help on lobbying campaigns for any organization I want, and on any issue I care about,” he said.

He also said that his contribution to the mailers as a volunteer has nothing to do with his being executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.