Secretary of State Clinton leads the way on gay issues: She is going to extend the same benefits to gay diplomats as straight, in a change that was long overdue and widely expected. Former SOS Rice—a dyke, sue me if you're not—didn't even do this.

I'm thinking people will use this bit of info in different ways—Clinton is more pro-gay than Obama because she's taking action (well, she doesn't have to worry about getting re-elected or passing legislation; I suspect if she were prez and he were SOS, she'd be moving cautiously on gay issues and he'd be changing this policy as well), Clinton is deliberately ratcheting up the heat on Obama over gay issues (she works for the man, I don't see her continuing their adversarial relationship), Clinton is just plain doing the right thing (not to be undersold because while it's easy as pie for her to do with zero fall-out, plenty of leaders inexplicably don't do things that would be easy as pie to do with zero fall-out).

Regardless of any behind-the-scenes activity leading up to this, I'm thrilled she's doing it and I'm sure her boss is, too. Hopefully she is encouraging Obama to get more aggressive on gay issues. It won't be easy as pie for him, but it wouldn't be the kind of momentum-killer that it was for President Clinton back in 1993.