A lot of news has come out in the last few days about equal marriage, so let's just do a quick round-up:
- New York: Both Sen. Charles Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg (and NYC City Council Speaker, Christine Quinn) have come out in support of gay marriage, despite the NY State Democrats block in the current session. Simultaneously, Governor Patterson both required all agencies to acknowledge out of state gay marriages and NYC gay couples are now allowed to list same-sex parents on birth certificates.
- New Hampshire: Even though there was a blockade in the NH State Senate against the equal marriage bill, the NH State House has passed the bill. It was a squeaker -- 186-179, and then only after a brief recess to discuss the issue. But still... it's on its way!
- Hawai'i: After a civil unions bill passed the State House with flying colors (33-17), it got deadlocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now dead, even after a valiant attempt to save it.
- Maine: Seems like the gays are taking on the family/children argument -- something I always said that we would never win. We'll see.
- Vermont: Gay rights proponents are not giving up after Gov. Douglas stated that he would veto an equal marriage bill. Rather, they are counting heads and seeing if they have the requisite 2/3 of both houses to overturn a veto. I think we do, it seems, in at least one house.
- Delaware: Meanwhile, Delaware is fighting a double-whammy: a bill that would protect LGBT folks in all things wonderful, and one that would ban same-sex discrimination. Great.
That's about all I got for the day.
