GOOD NEWS! Following a meeting with U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned the “gay” couple who had been sentenced to 14 years of jail and hard labor, announcing, “I have done this on humanitarian grounds but this does not mean that I support this.” Also,

The Prop 8 trial isn’t the only federal litigation happening right now regarding the definition of marriage – two other cases are currently making their way through the federal courts in Massachusetts that challenge the constitutionality of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. Autostraddle’s Legal Eagle explains how this could be a real game-changer.

Lt. Dan Choi shares his feelings about the DADT compromise and announces a controversial hunger strike, which we have a lot of feelings about. Also; VFW refuses trans member, Elena Kagan gets Sandra Day’s support and India aims to prevent gay & lesbians from using surrogate parents.

The White House has given its support to an official compromise on the repeal of DADT. It will happen this year – sort of! Get the rundown here. Constance’s school district denies misleading her to the wrong prom, some ‘encouraging statistics’, and Harvey Milk Day was super fun!

Some classmates tried to push their lesbian friend off a cliff because she’s gay; but police are saying this attempted murder, committed on the day of silence, could just be a “prank gone awry.” It looks like DADT won’t be repealed in 2010, and Dan Choi’s civil disobedience got little to no mainstream news coverage. Plus, it’s harder for LGBT victims of violent crimes, Jon Stewart’s Gaywatch, and the Tories in the UK are courting gay voters.

Jessica our Real-Live Lesbian Lawyer/Legal Eagle, is back with more facts about things we don’t understand! If marriage equality isn’t coming to our states any time soon, what can we do NOW to protect the rights of same-sex couples in the meantime? Project 515 has answers, and its a blueprint you could bring to your own community much sooner than you think.

All the young gays are celebrating in Seattle, uprising in NYC, dancing in Rutgers (and our strai army allies are dancing homosexily in Afghanistan!), taking back the night in WI, speaking against violence in CA, hosting Dan Choi at Harvard, and more! Also; Hawaii passes civil unions (the bill now goes to the governor), a lesbian stabs her ex, trans identity & faith & Laura Bush’s memoir on the 2004 debates around same-sex marriage.

If you thought there wasn’t room for one more controversy to sweep Toronto, well, you were wrong. This officially marks the first time ever we haven’t wanted to move to Canada. Also: Judith Butler turns down an award, bisexuality gets surveyed, gay marriage in NY and the lives of gay youths.

In which we ask: How does your race and/or sexuality impact your feminist identity? Do you ever feel you have to “pick one”?

The hired rentboy is now speaking out against Rev George Rekers, admitting the rubdowns et al — how many times does this need to happen before we can assume the more you hate gay people, the more you probs are one? We count down 15 other cases of anti-gays caught being gay! Also, gay marrieds fight for their federal rights, Argentina considers gay marriage, something about same-sex parents happens in New york

Are you ready to get this Prop 8 thing taken care of once and for all? SO ARE WE. We recap today’s closing arguments on the Prop 8 trial on gay marriage in California, with characteristic Autostraddle style and class.

A new round of sex scandals rock the church while the church fights to keep its anti-gay adoption policies and prevent the child of gays from attending its pre-school. Jon Stewart & “Deliver Us From Evil” report. Also; the trouble with the media’s take on the troubles of black women, clinical trials leave out glbts, ‘zines, is twitter a girl, gearing up for dinah shore weekend & a new LGBT Center in Long Beach, New York.

Judge Vaughn Walker, presiding over the Prop 8 Trial, is a homo! We loved him so much already, this is really just the icing on his homo-cake. Also: should gay cruises visit homophobic ports, New Orleans celebration, gays in schools, sex ed, gender disparity on college campuses and the real Tim Tebow ad!

Gay people, especially lesbians of color like Jene Newsome, continue not asking or telling and being discharged anyways — and sidenote, Rapid City has a significant history of racial discrimination. J. Crew has discriminatory hiring practices, Elton got a death threat, gay men may or may not be able to give blood eventually, New Hampshire is standing for marriage equality, and the Paycheck Fairness may be able to make a difference for working women and their families. Also, Jon Stewart explains it all for you.

A new book explains how “politics of disgust” have drowned out the “politics of humanity” necessary to achieve equal rights [sidenote: similar imagination and empathy-based strategies apply to challenging racism as well]. Also, gay Asians face racism within the community, International Women’s Day, watching “The Little Mermaid” while trans, Corey Haim’s death, Jon Stewart & Steven Colbert FTW last night and gay TV-makers will lose their tax breaks.

Important announcement today as top defense officials seek to end DADT — but there is one catch. And also, John McCain is cranky about it. We’re happy to see that Obama is actually making some forward progress on repealing DADT! Newly-elected Senator Scott Brown explains his position on gay rights. Plus, Hawaii has rejected civil unions, Utah legislators shelved anti-discrimination laws, and CBS makes even more weird Super Bowl ad decisions.

If you’ve been following the Prop 8 trial this week, you might have a lot of questions about the law and stuff, or perhaps like us you only KINDA understand what’s going on. Our resident legal expert Jessica is here to help! Here’s part one of two of Jessica the Legal Eagle Lawyer Explains It All– if you’ve got questions, she’s got answers.

New Jersey is debating on gay marriage RIGHT NOW, kids. Follow along! Probs we’ll be disappointed, but we can drink together later. Don’t worry. UPDATE: We were disappointed. Break out the bottles.

Autostraddle’s Legal Eagle is back to explain gender discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause, fundamental rights under the Due Process Clause, and HOW WE WIN THIS, Y’ALL. Is helping you understand the Prop 8 trial one of the best things we’ve done since the “Hot Girls in Menswear” gallery? YES.

“Maybe this man is not really a witness at all, but just here to annoy us. ” Because he sure ain’t doing much for the other team…