Morning Sweep

LGBT leaders and legislators remain optimistic that marriage equality will come to a vote this year in New York, despite Bloomberg's recent discouraging comments.

Five anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church protesters were outnumbered by nearly 200 Brooklyn Tech High School students yesterday in a counter-protest. Local leaders denounced the protest...

...but affirmed that the church has the right to free speech. A federal appeals court agrees, and has overturned a judgement against Westboro Baptist Church in the case of their picketing of a soldier's funeral, stating that even their "distasteful and repugnant" speech is protected by the First Amendment.

Some groups are moving forward to get a repeal of Prop. 8 on the 2010 ballot in CA, despite other groups' preference to wait until 2012.