gay marriage supporters say they're seeing gains

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/gay-marriage-supporters-say-they-re-seeing-gains-1328023872

With mo­men­tum build­ing in sev­eral states to give same-sex cou­ples the right to marry, and with leg­is­la­tors and vot­ers alike ral­ly­ing to their side, sup­port­ers of gay mar­riage feel good about 2012. But along with gains, there could be set­backs, and it's far from clear how the issue will play in a pres­i­den­tial elec­tion year.

Gay rights sup­port­ers won a huge vic­tory last year when New York state le­gal­ized gay mar­riage with bi­par­ti­san sup­port, dou­bling overnight the num­ber of same-sex cou­ples who could marry. Four states — Illi­nois, Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Is­land — en­acted civil union laws, giv­ing gay cou­ples many of the same rights and pro­tec­tions af­forded by mar­riage.

Cur­rently, six states and the Dis­trict of Co­lum­bia allow gay mar­riage, and Mary­land, Wash­ing­ton state, New Jer­sey and Maine could next join the list. How­ever, there are still more than two dozen states with voter-ap­proved con­sti­tu­tional amend­ments that ban gay mar­riage, and vot­ers in Min­nesota and North Car­olina will de­cide this year whether to enact sim­i­lar pro­hi­bi­tions.

On Sun­day, Mary­land Gov. Mar­tin O'Mal­ley, a De­mo­c­rat, made a full en­dorse­ment of same-sex mar­riage at a con­fer­ence in Bal­ti­more of the Na­tional Gay and Les­bian Task Force, which works to pro­mote grass­roots ac­tivism.

[emulatorloo]

1. Republicans in Iowa are trying like hell to take away marriage equality here

Thankfully our Democratically controlled Senate has beaten back every attempt.

[Fearless]

2. The hardest part is to start

The wheels moving towards progress. Those wheels have started. The train is moving. And it is picking up steam. We will win this fight. In our lifetimes. Maybe by 2025.

[William769]

3. PTED for me.