DNC Chair Howard Dean appeared on the Christian Broadcast Network show 700 Club Wednesday. Host Rev. Pat Robertson was critical of many of Dean's political views, but praised Dean for reaching out to evangelical Christians.

During the exchange Howard misrepresented the 2004 Democratic Platform as it pertains to gays and lesbians. Dean stated "The Democratic Party platform from 2004 says that marriage is between a man and a woman. That's what it says. I think where we may take exception with some religious leaders is that we believe in inclusion, that everybody deserves to live with dignity and respect, and that equal rights under the law are important."

In fact, the platform makes no reference to marriage being between a man and a woman. The full statement actually reads: "We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been definited at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush's divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a Federal Marriage Amendment." Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart."

Stonewall Democrats Interim Executive Director Jo Wyrick supported Governor Dean's efforts to reach out to the evangelical community, but took exception with his statement on marriage: "Our founders created a federal system that allows individual states the freedom to develop policy for their own families as they see fit. Democrats do not believe that the federal government should forcefully dictate family policy for individual states, as championed by congressional Republicans and the Bush Administration. Therefore, we strongly point out that Governor Dean incorrectly spoke when stating that the 2004 Democratic Party platform defines marriage as between a man and a woman."

The Democratic National Committee has been widely criticized for lack of outreach to the LGBT community since Howard Dean took the helm of the organization more than a year ago.

In February of 2005 and prior to Dean becoming DNC Chair, The Gay and Lesbian Americans Caucus of the DNC asked Howard Dean to "pledge to maintain and fund at least one full-time senior-level position of Director of LGBT Outreach at the DNC, whose primary responsibility will be policy and organizing" prior to his becoming DNC Chair.

The Director of LGBT Outreach remained vacant for a year. It wasn't until February of 2006 that Dean suprised the community and announced that he had abolished the position. Dean also eliminated other constituent desks instead creating what the DNC calls the 'American Majority Partnership'. The restructuring lead to a reduction in the number of staff at the DNC working on LGBT Outreach, but did not effect the staffing levels of other constituent groups.

Under previous DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe, the LGBT Community had two full-time outreach staff, and two full-time fundraising staff. Under the leadership of Howard Dean, the DNC has no full-time outreach staff, and three full-time fundraising staff. Staff at the DNC's fundraising arm, the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council, include Brian Bond and Tom Petrillo. New York Daily News reports that Corey Johnson will also join the Leadership Council staff.

Gay Democratic Party activist Jeff Soref of New York City was an supporter of Dean's bid to become DNC Chair. He resigned his position in 2005, however, largely due to Dean's decision to eliminate the Director of LGBT Outreach position.