Gay Marriage Amendment fails in U.S. Senate: “The 49 to 48 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to end debate, thwarting President George W. Bush and the mostly Republican senators who argued that the Constitution must be amended to prevent judges from striking down existing state-level bans on gay marriage.” Republican leaders will now take the battle to the House of Representatives. Hilary Rosen on the inside story…

The Malcontent has the clip of Jon Stewart's evisceration of Bill Bennett regarding his position on gay marriage: “Jon punctures the outrageous hypocrisy in Bennett's position, performs a stunning take-down of the polygamy argument, and puts forth the conservative logic in favor of gay marriage as a vehicle for promoting family and stability in the gay community.” Also at Crooks & Liars…

Opponents of Washington state's gay civil rights laws have failed to collect enough signatures to get their hateful measure on the ballot: “Organizers of the referendum drive said they had collected 105,103 signatures, below the 112,440 minimum and considerably fewer than the 130,000 suggested to cover duplicate or invalid signatures.”

NSA responds to SLDN request for information regarding surveillance of gay groups by wiretapping. Will “continue to neither confirm nor deny the existence or non-existence” of information obtained by surveillance.