While Pope Benedict XVI may have semi-successfully shielded himself from direct responsibility in German and Irish sex abuse scandals, documents revealed in a new lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and obtained by the New York Times show that despite repeated warnings and appeals from US bishops, Benedict halted proceedings against a priest accused of molesting 200 deaf boys between 1950 and 1974. In 1996, after Rev. Lawrence Murphy personally appealed to Benedict – then the head of the church body in charge of investigating sex abuse claims and disciplining priests – Murphy’s canonical trial was halted and he was permitted to continue freely working with children throughout the diocese, a position he’d held after being quietly removed from his position at a school for the deaf in 1974, and placed in a northern Wisconsin diocese. Murphy died in 1998, still a priest.

Elsewhere…

D.C. – Same-gender partners may still pay more for health insurance. (NY Times)

D.C. – An ENDA petition drive. Meanwhile, HRC head Joe Solmonese is evasive when asked about the HRC’s strategy for getting ENDA through the Senate. (The Bilerico Project, Towleroad/DC Agenda)

D.C. – Details emerging on DADT changes that Secretary of Defense Bob Gates will announce later today. (Rachel Maddow via Joe.My.God)

D.C. – The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development launches an online comment box to compliment their landmark study of housing discrimination against LGBT Americans. Have you been discriminated against? (via Pam’s House Blend)

Georgia – He may be taking his boyfreind to the prom, but his parents have kicked him out of the house. (Box Turtle Bulletin)

Oregon – The Boy Scouts of America apparently kept files on scout leaders suspected of abusing young boys, but kept this information from parents and law enforcement officials. (NPR)

The UK – The leader of the party likely to win the UK’s next parliamentary election is in a bit of hot water and doing damage control after being called out for failing to condemn Lithuania’s recent anti-gay law, despite his widely-publicized re-vamping of the party to embrace LGBT rights. (The Advocate)