Doma

As Christopher Jones drove back to his office at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center from a morning meeting, he tuned into National Public Radio. The communications manager didn't want to miss any updates on the Prop 8 arguments.  Back in the office, about 11 a.m., he sat down behind three computer screens. On one screen, he scrolled through his email to check for media requests and other updates, and on the other two screens he eyed the American Foundation for Equal Rights' website to check for morning updates about the arguments.

Forty-five years after it ruled that laws against interracial marriage violated the Constitution, the Supreme Court is finally poised to scrutinize the equally unjust impediments to marriage between people of the same sex. At a private conference Friday, the justices will consider several petitions relating to the issue. Of particular concern to Californians is whether the justices will decide to review a federal court ruling that declared Proposition 8, the state's ban on gay marriage, unconstitutional.

Facing intense criticism, the Associated Press announced Thursday that it would revise its influential stylebook to include a single standard when referring to gay and straight spouses. It will add this entry for "husband, wife": "Regardless of sexual orientation, 'husband' or 'wife' is acceptable in all references to individuals in any legally recognized marriage. 'Spouse' or 'partner' may be used if requested. " A leaked memo had previously revealed that the massive news agency, which sets the standard for many journalists worldwide, was advising its writers to "generally" call legally married gay spouses "partners" instead of "husband" or "wife.

WASHINGTON - While they await a Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, gay rights advocates are taking their fight to a new arena: campaign finance law. A Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts who supports gay marriage has asked the Federal Election Commission to determine whether gay couples have the right to make joint contributions to political candidates. In a request for an advisory opinion Friday, attorneys for state Rep. Dan Winslow, a moderate Republican running in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, asked the commission whether gay couples could donate to his campaign with a single check, as heterosexual married couples were allowed to do. The matter underscores the far-reaching and unexpected implications of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, which denies federal benefits to gay couples legally married in their states.

The crowd cheered and clapped Tuesday morning as the LGBT pride flag was raised and flapped for the first time over City Hall Plaza in Long Beach. The ceremony -- which marked the U.S. Supreme Court hearing on California's Proposition 8 -- was part of the Courage Campaign's California Mayors United Against Proposition 8 movement. Mayors from at least 25 cities are participating in the movement, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.  FULL COVERAGE: Battle over gay marriage   A letter signed by the mayors was sent to the Supreme Court before it heard the two gay rights-related cases it is considering this week.

House Republican leaders voted Wednesday to launch what could be a lengthy legal battle against granting federal rights and benefits to same-sex couples, deciding to join a series of pending court battles to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Obama administration has decided to no longer defend as constitutional. A five-member panel convened by House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) directed the House counsel to initiate a legal defense of the 15-year-old law. Democrats on the panel, who are a minority, opposed the move.

WASHINGTON -- Wednesday's arguments underway before the Supreme Court could give the justices an opportunity to strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- the law that denies federal benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married. But just like Tuesday's case challenging California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, a ruling on the substance of the issue could be forestalled by procedural issues. If the justices find that procedural barriers block them from getting to the merits of the case they would, in effect, decide the case by default -- a lower-court ruling that held the law unconstitutional would stand.

WASHINGTON -- The lawyers challenging California's Proposition 8 are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to rule broadly that gays and lesbians across the nation deserve an equal right to marry. “We believe this is a matter of fundamental rights,” said Washington attorney Ted Olson shortly after filing his legal brief in the high court. Rather than focus narrowly on the special situation in California, Olson and co-counsel David Boies said they decided to “paint the broad picture” for the Supreme Court on how marriage for gays fits with the nation's historic commitment to liberty and equality.

SAN FRANCISCO - As the battle over gay marriage takes center stage at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, a new survey shows that attitudes on same-sex marriage have shifted rapidly. Polling data consistently show that knowing a gay person is a strong factor. A poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, released last week and conducted in mid-March, found that 14% of Americans say they have changed their minds about same-sex marriage. FULL COVERAGE: Same-sex marriage ban Roughly a third of them told pollsters it was because they know someone - a friend or family member or other acquaintance - who is gay. The poll also found that more Americans now say they support gay marriage than oppose it. Roughly 49% of Americans say they support gay marriage, with 44% opposed.

Just 16 years after a Democratic president signed the fatuously named Defense of Marriage Act defining marriage as between one man and one woman, the debate over gay marriage is over. Isn't it? Even though DOMA is still on the books, even though most states that have voted on the issue have voted against gay marriage, all the energy is in the opposite direction. What seemed at first like a bizarre idea has become utterly conventional. By judicial decree interpreting the state constitution, by act of the legislature and someday soon by popular referendum, one state after another is falling.