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?