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What's the connection between this anti-gay assault in New York and this anti-gay politician in California? We'll take a closer look at both this week, and analyze some new ads airing in Oregon. There's been significant movement around the country on civil unions, and Montana Republicans are backing an bill that could send any gay couple to prison for up to ten years. All that plus an interview with Lavi Soloway, the attorney at the center of efforts to protect bi-national couples from forced deportation.

This is surveillance footage of two men assaulting Damian Furtch on March 27 in New York. This assault was accompanied by anti-gay epithets and left Damian with two black eyes, a broken nose, and stitches.

So, what does this have to do with Senator Bob Huff, a Republican representing California's 29th District? Well, just a few days before Damian's assault, the California Senate Education Committee heard testimony on SB48. Senate Bill 48 corrects the straight-washing of California curriculum, which currently requires that students learn about the cultural and historic contributions of every group except LGBTs. It's important that we end our exclusion for a lot of reasons, but the most urgent is that we know that learning about LGBT figures in schools reduces anti-LGBT harassment.

A recent California study shows that harassment more than doubles, from 11% to 24%, when schools fail to include LGBT curriculum. SB48 protects children and stops gay-bashing. But Republicans like Bob Huff are cynically using it for ideological pandering. Listen to how he describes a bill that would save kids' lives.

Huff: "To sexualize the training of our children at an early age, I do believe it will promote the agenda, and I think that's what is of concern."

We're going to have more on SB48 later this week, in a special episode that picks apart all the anti-gay rhetoric that came out of this hearing. So, for now, how can you help?

If you're in California, contact your representatives at leginfo.ca.gov. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to hear the bill very soon. And no matter where you are, you can help put copies of the new It Gets Better book into schools around the country. All it takes is a $25 donation. Visit bit.ly/IGBdonate to help put this book where it's needed most: in the hands of vulnerable, isolated youth who are suffering in districts like Bob Huff's.

Turning to marriage news, it's been a busy week across the country, with good news in Oregon, Illinois, Iowa, Delaware, Washington, and Rhode Island. And bad news in Colorado, Montana, and Indiana.

Let's start with the good news. There's nothing happening right now in Oregon with marriage equality -- no ballot measures, no hearings, no proposed legislation. And makes it the perfect time to MAKE something happen.

Basic Rights Oregon has just started airing TV commercials that feature gay couples and allies talking about their lives and the challenges that they face because they can't get married.

Now, these are very gentle, sweet, non-confrontational ads, just like the ones running right now in Rhode Island and the ones that ran in California and Maine right before those elections. Those ads were a problem because they didn't respond to the harsh attacks of the anti-gay industry.

But the situation is Oregon is different. Because they're between elections, they probably won't have to respond to any attack ads. So this is a chance to talk about our families on their own terms.

That might work. But any advances that we make could be undone if Basic Rights Oregon isn't prepared to respond to harsh attacks that will eventually come.

Also this week, an attempt to put marriage discrimination into the Illinois Constitution was effectively ended when it was sent to a subcommittee. The anti-gay bill isn't getting out of there anytime soon, because that particular subcommittee doesn't have any members. And that's how democracy works in Illinois.

A similar amendment also died in Iowa this week. It never really had a shot, because Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal said he'd block it. But it didn't make a Friday cutoff so it's done for 2011.

Delaware's playing catchup with a civil unions bill. It passed a Senate subcommittee this week, and now goes to the full floor for debate.

Meanwhile, a special new domestic partner bill passed the Washington state Senate 29 to 19 this week, and heads to governor. Washington already has domestic partnerships, but this bill would allow the state to recognize marriages from out of state. So if you're vacationing in Seattle with your husband and he gets sick, you won't have to worry about the hospital shutting you out.

This patchwork state-by-state approach will have to continue until we are able to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. Until then, gay couples will have to cope with wildly different laws depending on what state they're from and what state they're in.

This week Marriage Equality Rhode Island invited Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin to visit Rhode Island and tell lawmakers about how marriage equality has benefited his state.

Time is running out in Rhode Island. The deadline for legislators to vote on marriage equality is June, so if you're in Rhode Island, contact your legislators today by going to sos.ri.gov/vic. Even though the marriage equality bill is supported by the public, by the governor, and by a lot of legislators, they still haven't scheduled a vote.

Now, some bad news. Seventy-two percent of Colaradans support civil union legislation, but Republicans in the House Judiciary Committee killed this bill this week. That leaves gay Coloradans vulnerable to all kinds of risks and penalties, from denial of hospital visitation to denial of health coverage to gay death taxes.

Things are even worse in Indiana. That state already prohibits marriage equality, but the Senate just overwhelmingly passed a second ban, just in case the first one is found unconstitutional.

And it's been nearly fifteen years since the Montana Supreme Court found that state's ban on gay sex unconstitutional, but Republican lawmakers voted this week to keep the law on the books. Gay Montanans caught in bed together are looking at a fifty thousand dollar fine, and ten years in prison.

Nationally, the Defense of Marriage Act put gay couples through a roller-coaster this week, starting with some bad news, then some good news and then some more good news and then some bad news.

It's complicated. But Lavi Soloway, the lawyer at the center of the legal turmoil, is joining us to explain what's going on.

MATT: So, we're talking again with Lavy Soloway, the founder of Immigration Equality and Stop the Deportations. It's been kind of a roller coaster ride for gay couples. At the end of last week we thought that there had been a precedent set in the way that binational couples' cases were going to be adjudicated. But then this week there were a bunch of ups and downs as conflicting messages came out. So, Lavi, what are gay coupoles ... what have they been though in just the last week or two?

LAVI: Well, you're right that last week we had a big success in immigration court for one lesbian couple who won a reprieve on their deportation based on their marriage. And then on Friday we had surprising news which was broken by Newsweek that several individual district office of the immigration servie had been accepting green card applications filed by married gay and lesbian couples and then holding the decisions on those cases. In other words, not denying them. And that was really important news for gay and lesbian couples who are desperately waiting for the day when they can apply for green cards because what it meant was that potentially folks could file these applications, and then have them held indefinitely, obtain legal status, obtain employment authorization, obtain protection from deportation. And the decisions on those cases which would today have to be denials because of the Defense of Marriage Act, would be put off to a later date, hopefully a date beyond the Supreme Court Decision on the Defense of Marriage Act or beyond Congressional action to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Now, unfortunately, that news was very quickly followed by more statements from the Department of Homeland Security clarifying that this seeming policy of abeyance would be only a temporary one and that it was further clarified that it would not exist at all. What seemed like a glimmer of hope for all the couples who are trying to prevent deportation, it was taken away. So it was an emotional roller coaster of a week.

MATT: So the case two weeks ago that had everybody really enthusiastic, Monica and Christina, the result there was that their case was held in abeyance. Is that going to end now? Do they lose that now?

LAVY: No, no, and their case actually wasn't held in abeyance. So let me be really clear about what happened over the last few days. And what's happening in immigration court for married gay and lesbian couples. In the last few days we learned that the administrative agency that accepts applications and petitions, which is called USCIS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, was accepting applications and petitions and then holding on to them. We then learned that they would not be doing that. What Monica and Christina achieved however was to be able to persuade an immigration judge that for as long as they are pursuing a marriage-based case, and that means fighting it past a denial, potentially appealing that, the immigration judge decided that they should not -- their immigration proceedings should not continue. They should be adjourned so that the couple can take their fight all the way to the end. So that two things, while they are related, they're not so closely related that Monica and Christina need to be particularly fearful that their win is somehow less than a win.

MATT: So, it sounds like this is just purely about policy, a discretionary policy move to start the abeyances back up. Do we have any sense of whose ear we nee to have in the administration to make that change?

LAVY: I think primarily Janet Napolitano. And also Eric Holder. And ultimately if neither of those two cabinet secretaries feel that both the legal and the political terrain, which is tough, admittedly, if neither of them feel that that legal or political terrain is something that they can overcome in the near future for us, then we need to bring the attention to this issue directly to the White House. And what's at stake here, let's be really clear, is gay and lesbian couples who are lawfully married, are being torn apart every day by deportation by separation, by forced expatriation of American citizens' spouses, because of the lack of recognition of their marriages. What we're asking for is not that their marriages be recognized under law, because the law currently prevents that. What we're asking for is that their marriages currently be respected, and that their families be protected. And that's something that is within the power of the executive branch. If that decision cannot be made by Janet Napolitano and Eric Holder, then it needs to be a decision made by the President of the United States. This is a President that definitely understands that gay and lesbian couples need legal protection. They need legal recognition. And he is doing what he believes is in his power to move the issue forward to that conclusion. Unfortunately, when it comes to deportation, we don't have a lot of time. We don't have the benefit of waiting out the legislative process or waiting out the legal process for the cases that are headed to the Supreme Court in the next few years. We need interim measures to be put into place now to make sure that individuals like Monica and many others who are facing deportation are protected.

MATT: Well, Lavy Soloway, thank you again very much for joining us. This is a fast moving case and there's a lot at stake in a very short amount of time.

LAVY: My pleasure, Matt.

For more information on all of these stories, visit us over at Stop8.org. Click over here to subscribe to weekly updates, and click here to watch some past episodes. You can also join us on Facebook over at facebook.com/stop8.

See you next week.

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