Struggles and progress: gay in Rhode Island

UPDATE: Here it is.

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A day before the holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the ProJo's Mark Arsenault brings his considerable narrative skills to bear with a sweeping takeout today on the challenges and accomplishments of gays and lesbians in Rhode Island. Along the way, he uncovers some fascinating history and talks up related topics with Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin.

Curiously, although the ProJo -- according to what I read in print this morning -- plans to support Arsenault's package with an online multi-media presentation, I just spent about three minutes searching and couldn't find his main story on the ProJo's Web site. Whether by accident or design, a lot more attention, not surprisingly, is devoted to the Patriots' game this afternoon.

At any rate, Arsenault's work on this subject is a public service, and it continues the Journal's forays into in-depth reporting.

And if you want an example of how the stigma that some associate with homosexuality can still have lethal consequences, consider this case from a few years ago, when a vice bust in Johnston was followed by a media frenzy and the suicide of one of the men who was arrested.