How the Supremes came to realize that gays and lesbians are people, too. So why did the US Supreme Court issue such a progressive opinion in the Texas sodomy case? The New York Times' Linda Greenhouse explains:

The Supreme Court has become a gay-friendly workplace where employees feel sufficiently comfortable in their open identity to bring their partners to court functions. Justice Powell's comment to one of his law clerks while Bowers v. Hardwick was pending in 1986 that "I don't believe I've ever met a homosexual" (untrue, considering that the clerk was, in fact, gay) could not be uttered in the court -- or the Washington or the legal profession -- of today.

If proximity leads to amity, then let's say we all chip in and get the Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby a gay editorial assistant. Jacoby's two-parter against same-sex marriage (here's part one; here's part two) shows that he's out of ammunition. But he's still firing away.