Commentary

Leaked footage of the Proposition 8 trial sparked a legal tug of war this week, with anti-gay groups renewing efforts to keep their work out of public view. Delaware’s on track to be the 8th state to offer marriage-ish protections, and activists gear up in New York.

Why did John Boehner sign up for a protracted legal fight over anti-gay laws without first finding out what it was going to cost taxpayers? Hope is on the way for gay couples facing homelessness due to discriminatory Medicaid policies. Civil unions advance in Delaware but marriage is on the rocks in Rhode Island. And will we see Prop 8 back on the ballot in 2012?

Stephen Sprinkle’s book, “Unfinished Lives: Reviving the Memories of LGBTQ Hate Crimes Victims,” and the Unfinished Lives Project as a whole, remind us that we must not only tell our young people that “It gets better,” but we must commit ourselves to the hard work of building a world that is better for all people.

What’s the connection between an anti-gay assault in New York and an anti-gay politician in California? We take a closer look at both this week, and analyze some new ads airing in Oregon. Watch “This Week in Prop 8” here.

I’m pleased to report that “gay” is now a perfectly acceptable word to include in posted comments on Walmart’s site. Other words have also been cleared, including lesbian, homosexual, bisexual and transgendered.

Walmart is selling the new “It Gets Better” book. Just don’t call it gay.

This week: Finger-pointing in Maryland, along with some disturbing new racial rhetoric. Meanwhile, pressure to repeal DOMA heats up in Congress and in the courts.

There were moments while reading “It Gets Better,” the new book inspired by the video project to help bullied youth, when my heart leapt to my throat and hovered there. There’s no denying the power of this project, and what could easily be the most important book of the year.

The Oprah Winfrey Network’s “Our America” with Lisa Ling has produced an indulgent puff-piece on “ex-gay” programs, “Pray the Gay Away”, that included gross factual inaccuracies resulting from a lack of research and lazy reporting.

Anti-gay forces in Maryland set marriage back another year. That setback is softened by advances in New York, Colorado, and Washington, plus a new ad for equality launches in Rhode Island, but is it too soft?

The decision by the House of Delegates to send a bill legalizing gay marriage back to the House Judiciary Committee — a move designed to prevent the measure’s outright defeat — is a crushing disappointment to the thousands of Marylanders…

As a movement, it is vital that we build stronger coalitions to achieve our goals. And in order to do that, we must find our allies and support them. We have to realize the strength there is in learning about and helping others who can help us achieve our goals.

In case anyone ever wondered why I’m so emphatic about equal rights… here you go. This man — Mike Huckabee — who ran for president, does not want gays to marry, raise kids or serve their country.

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and possible GOP Presidential candidate, on Friday criticized President Barack Obama for his decision to order the Department of Justice to stop defending the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.

Today would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday. The American ultra right and Christian conservatives, along with nearly all of the GOP are singing his praises, and in the case of the politico’s, either trying to emulate the “Gipper” or […]

Prominent defender of gay rights in Uganda, David Kato, was murdered in his home by two blows with a hammer last Wednesday. What responsibility does the Christian Church bear for the outrageous murder of Kato?

Joel Osteen, best-selling author and religious entertainer: “Homosexuality is a sin.” In an interview earlier this week on CNN, Osteen toes a fundamentalist, homophobic line on the interpretation of the Bible.

Obama’s relationship with the LGBT community has been much like a stormy marriage that is saved by the husband delivering bouquets of red roses only moments before the divorce papers arrive. With flowers in hand, the disillusioned spouse remembers why she fell in love in the first place…

45 years ago this week, Time Magazine published a 2-page essay titled “The Homosexual in America.” As you would imagine, the ideas presented in the article would now be considered arcane, but in order to understand the strides we have made as individuals and as a community, we must consider our history.

My intent is not to say that most Republicans are bigots, nor are I implying that the names I’ve mentioned are directly responsible for causing deaths. However, they have soured the political climate in America by consistently catering to bigots, pandering to religious extremists, serving as apologists for militia kooks, and entertaining the wild fantasies of sick conspiracy theorists.