Here's a long look at some of the studies and expert testimony behind the Prop 8 ruling. (Unsurprisingly, the science suggests that gay marrieds have disagreements about tidiness and money, just like straight marrieds, so therefore, I guess we're all the same.) This is funny somewhat because we're still working on the idea that men and women are even similar or equal-including in the brain. In a review of Delusions of Gender, a look at neuroscience (and neurosexism!), the Times makes a reference to the paper's own publication, in 1915, of a letter by neurologist Dr. Charles L. Dana. His contention was that women's "upper spinal [...]

The Prop 8 case in San Francisco will have closing arguments this week, putting an end to what seems like several decades of a very strange case. (It started in January!) What's kind of great is the the judge (the gay judge! But never mind! Nobody look at the gay judge!) is going wide on the matter, posing a long series of questions that he wants answered in closing, such as: "What evidence in the record shows that a belief based in morality cannot also be discriminatory?" Mmm! What's more, somehow, one of the key arguments of Prop 8 supporters is that "children fare best in families with two [...]

Prop 8 Upheld The website of the California Supreme Court went down about 20 minutes before the decision was put online. UH OH! The crowd is shouting "Shame on you!" Presumably that is the gays yelling at the anti-gays. Oh ho! No, that is the gays yelling at the court. "State Supreme Court upholds Prop. 8, 18,000 same-sex marriages," says the L.A. Times. This means, in English, that: gay marriages conducted while gay marriage was temporarily legal will continue to exist. However, the Court decided with the voters of the state in not allowing equal rights for gay people to marry either before or after that odd window of actual [...]

"California is able to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as it has already issued 18,000 marriage licenses to same-sex couples and has not suffered any demonstrated harm as a result." -The big unsurprise: Prop 8 bites it in latest decision. Great news! This means it is off to the fun-loving Ninth Circuit, where they will literally laugh in the faces of the anti-gay-marriage folks! And possibly write a decision in the form of a sissy bounce video or something.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been fined by the state of California for not reporting as political activity the hours that church employees spent in political action for the "Yes on 8 committee." The fine is minor but it's extremely gratifying that no longer can anyone claim that the church was not acting in California as a political lobbying and organizing entity.

About a year ago, a friend from Utah called to tell me that he was gay. I'll call him James, though that's absolutely not his real name. This would have been March or April, about six months after Prop 8 passed. We spent two hours on the phone that night, and several more over the next few weeks. He'd talked about it on some anonymous online forums, and even been on one or two tentative dates, but I was otherwise the first person that he told. I wonder now if he chose me because he could call from two thousand miles away: if I were to reject him, at [...]

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):

"Judge Walker: If the President's parents had been in Virginia when he was born, their marriage would have been unlawful. Doesn't that show a tremendous change in the institution of marriage?"

"Cooper: Racial restrictions were never a feature of the institution of marriage. [Laughter in our courtroom.]"