Or as Dan likes to say, Required Reading: The Chicago Sun-Times' Neil Steinberg on the U.S. Naval Academy's treatment of a fallen serviceman's gay spouse, the power of a marriage certificate, and proof of the progress being made in America.

I'd love to quote an amazing chunk but it's all amazing chunks. But here's a small one:

“One of the e-mails said that I was a ‘trailblazer,’ ’’ said Ketterson. “I didn’t blaze any trail. I buried my husband.”

Go read the whole thing now. (Bring hankies.)

Thanks to Slog tipper Dan Savage, who offers this background on/gushing for Sun-Times writer Neil Steinberg: "Neil is a metro columnist and a vocal and blunt and effective advocate for gay rights. Married guy, suburbanite, dad. And fucking stellar on gay rights—backs us, slams and calls out and mocks our enemies. He's the Frank Rich of the Midwest."