In yesterday’s Sunday Chronicle, the gossip columnists Matier & Ross dropped a “bombshell” that Vaughn Walker – the federal judge presiding over the Prop 8 trial – is gay. Not that it was much of a state secret; marriage equality advocates quickly put the issue in its proper context. But we know the Right will jump all over this issue, using it to discredit the trial by accusing the judge of bias. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first time the paper has been a political gift to homophobes. In 2008, the Chronicle treated the same-sex wedding of a 1st grade teacher as front-page news. Any responsible paper would have put it on the back page with other wedding announcements, and the political impact of this coverage probably decided the election for Prop 8. Now there will be talk of “activist judges” who overturn the “will of the people,” with talk about gays getting “special rights” when this is really a civil rights battle. It seems like the Chronicle goes out of its way to undercut San Francisco values. In 2004, Phil Bronstein removed City Hall reporter Rachel Gordon from her beat – because she and her partner got married, citing an apparent “conflict-of-interest.” The same conflict, we should add, that Judge Walker will now be accused of.