False alarm! Last week's noises about possibly broadcasting the closing arguments of the Prop 8 trial were effectivey squashed. Judges, it would seem, are just a really shy group of people.

But that hasn't stopped the trail from inching incrementally forward: this week, both sides filed paperwork that was basically a reiteration of the points that they made during the trial. No word yet on when those closing arguments will actually happen -- and it kind of doesn't matter, since it's just one tiny step in a case that will probably take years to conclude -- if the pesky voters don't undo Prop 8 first.

Speaking of overturning Prop 8 at the ballot box, brand new gay Assembly speaker John Perez set heads spinning this week when he declared the effort to repeal Prop 8 in 2010 dead on arrival. Ouch. To their credit, the 2010 folks are pressing forward, but it's looking ever more likely that they'll prove the consultants right by failing to meet the signature requirements.

On the other side of the country, the National Organization for Marriage steadfastly refuses to cooperate with a Maine commission investigating its funding sources. A lot of people are asking a lot of questions about where NOM gets its money, and NOM's response is basically that they don't have to tell. Which is a nice argument, but the Maine Commission on Governal Ethics & Election Practices is like, "except you do."