The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

For the second time, the United States Supreme Court has turned down an appeal by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), once again leaving a lower court judgement against the rabidly anti-equality group stand.

What's remarkable to me about this entire story is that NOM believed for a moment that they could prevail. Maine's campaign disclosure law would seem to be rather clear in this case. Perhaps this is a situation of simply believing that one's cause is so just that loss is impossible. Or perhaps NOM's legal team believed that the Court had enough ideological sympathy with their cause to overlook the details of the relevant law.

Unfortunately to my mind, this win for LGBT advocates doesn't mean that the public will get to see NOM's list of donors any time soon. There are yet still more legal challenges working their way through lower courts, and it won't be surprising to see them land on the Supreme Court docket in months or years to come.

The party line here in Maine is that while the Supreme Court ruling is great, actually seeing the list isn't a high priority. Mainers United For Marriage has publicly said that the issue isn't whose names are on the list, but that NOM be required to play by the same rules as everyone else. As a Maine resident I can appreciate Mainers United's position from a PR perspective, but personally, I couldn't disagree more. I want to see that list, and look forward to the day when it's finally made a matter of public record.

I'm going to have to wait a while for that, but you can have what you need to know right now:

• LGBT activist and advocate Lt. Dan Choi will speak at Oregon State University as part of the school's celebration of Queer History Month.
• Bowing to criticism from anti-LGBT leaders, Jamaica has seen its only LGBT drop in center forced to close.
• The appointment of Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, the radically anti-equality Catholic leader who spearheaded the successful fight against same-sex marriage in California, to head the archdiocese of San Francisco, has Catholic LGBT people in that city understandably concerned.
• Queerty reports on a new series of PSAs from the National Center for Transgender Equality aimed at helping trans* people understand new voter ID laws and ensure their right to vote. You can also view the PSAs on NCTE's website.
• Claiming fears of violence in the wake of bloody clashes between anti-gay ultranationalists and police two years ago, Serbia is threatening to cancel an LGBT pride parade, as well as other public gatherings nationwide, for the second consecutive year.
• Good As You has released footage of anti-gay preacher Harry Jackson taking credit for his prayers having put the Washington Blade out of business, which would be a powerful statement of Jackson's god's distain for the LGBT community, if in fact the Blade wasn't still in print.
• The Log Cabin Republicans have announced their 2012 Congressional endorsements.
• Mississippi state Rep. Andy Gipson (R) appears to have endorsed the death penalty for gay people on Biblical grounds on his Facebook page.
• New anti-LGBT laws in Russia have the community understandable concerned.
• Not every football player can love us. Baltimore Ravens center Matt Birk is strongly opposed to marriage equality.
• A new Facebook group has been started specifically to help LGBT little people connect and network. It's just getting started, so spread the word.
• Finally, out of Australia comes this excellent LGBT equality/anti-bullying video that never once mentions LGBT people. I'll admit I got a bit choked up (tomorrow's will be a cheery vid, I promise):