To make a far-too-early prediction? Charles Cooper, who is defending Prop 8 in court today, is going to get his ass handed to him. His craaaazy interpretation of Loving v. Virginia cannot possibly sit well. We particularly enjoyed (rough transcript): READ MORE

Yesterday's defeat of a gay marriage bill in the New Jersey Senate is just one more disappointment in a string of bitter losses for those who seek equal justice under the law. Sure, other countries don't seem to have a problem making fairness legal, but here at home, at the state level, we have apparently decided that we're not going to play along. Many of the objections you hear center around religion, but the sorry undercurrent behind the unwillingness to grant the same rights to homosexuals that their fellow citizens already enjoy and frequently abuse is actually one concerning politics and economics, i.e., in These Troubled Times legislators are not willing to take a chance on equality while their constituents are more concerned about jobs and wages. Basically, gays are screwed until the economy picks up again and we all feel so prosperous that we don't care whether or not two committed partners who happen to be of the same gender want the same benefits as everyone else. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is. So let's set some benchmarks! READ MORE

By 38-24, the gay marriage bill fails in the New York State Senate. You know who voted against it? Former New York City Councilmember HIRAM MONSERRATE. It is our editorial opinion that he can go fuck himself. He was endorsed by, among others, The Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens, after a good deal of gay outreach. Here's the roll call. Pick an enemy today!

Avril Lavigne songs don't make me cry. Except this morning, listening to the new "Glee" soundtrack: as I was thinking about the lost battle for marriage equality in Maine, the cast's cover of "Keep Holding On" started streaming through my headphones. I lost it. READ MORE

Voter turnout is really high up in Maine. Because people have an opportunity to express their "opinions" on "major issues," particularly "gay marriage," via something called "voting"? And they are excited about that, you see!

Man, everyone is beating a hasty retreat from association with Brian Schroeder, who set fire to a chapel that contained the remains of 9/11 victims. The former editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review, also a former Duke theater major (wow), was on deferral package from the firm of Sidley Austin. (You remember those: getting well-paid to do pro bono work for a year?) Except now he is not, as his employment offer just evaporated. Anyway, at least the Jews are happy to sit this one out.

Now this is how it's done, kids! "Blogging will be relatively light for the next six days as the Key West Business Guild is bringing me down on a press junket to cover Fantasy Fest.... Full disclosure: The Guild is paying for our airfare, lodging, meals, excursions-the whole shebang. Fuller disclosure: I'm completely open to similar offers from the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, Mykonos, Sitges...." I didn't even know where Sitges was, I had to Google it!

Wow, well, here is an essay from N+1 by a straight man about the tyranny of marriage. In part, he is disappointed that the gays, on the whole, have given up striving for complicated radical relationships and have become marriage-obsessed. Is the new boringness of gays bringing us all down? Perhaps, yes. I can understand that disappointment! "Here is marriage: The division of humanity into closed couples, when modernity has given us a chance at something much better-affiliation by manifold currents of love, interest, and likeness which overflow the monogamous male-female dyad... To marry is the closest adult thing to making your eyes big, your forehead rounded, and your hands into adorable little paws. Look at hubby-wubby! It is so responsible. It says that your desire is not for pleasure or fun, it is for fitting in. It is for the maintenance of what already is... Opposing gay marriage is like denying the wishes of people who want to feed your pets or take out your garbage." I don't really know what to do with this but I am fascinated.

Awl contributor Tom Scocca just blew my mind by IM'ing me this sentence, from this coming Sunday's fairly interesting New York Times Magazine cover story about gay kids: "By far the most common usage of the word 'gay' in middle schools is in the expression 'that's so gay,' a popular adolescent phrase that means that something is dumb or lame." Um. *Head explodes.* Hey. You guys? Anyone? You mean, "dumb," the word that used to mean "a person unable to speak" that later came to mean "stupid"? And "lame," the word that used to mean "a person who is crippled" and later came to mean "stupid"? So basically this proves that, in the evolution of the English language, the word "gay" is primarily going to mean, heh, well, "dumb or lame." I can't believe this little ouroboros of linguistics just happened right here under our noses, behind our backs. At a place where editors of words work.

Poor Monica Hesse is hated by every gay blogger in America pretty much, because she wrote a funny Washington Post profile about the head of NOM NOM NOM, who is a cheery douchebag with an obsession on hating gay marriage, and all the gays were like, NO ONE CAN BE NICE TO THAT MONSTER. Which isn't a terribly wrong viewpoint, but, seriously homos, turn it down a notch. So the WaPo ombudsman devoted his Sunday column to Miss Monica and her story, and revealed that she is a failed lesbian! This is so much better than "I have soooo many black friends." READ MORE