Race for marriage equality, who's next?

Savannah Cook of Newton, IA (AP Photo/Steve Pope)

Ever since California voters approved a new marriage ban in November, the issue of marriage has been at the forefront of the fight for equality. In the past six months, four new states have approved laws to allow same-sex marriage. Massachusetts led the way for same-sex marriage in 2004 when the state Supreme Court ruled that banning it was discrimination. Shortly after that, a massive amount of states approved new marriage bans.

The streak continued until May 15^th 2008 when the California state Supreme Court ruled that their states marriage ban was not consistent with the state constitution. This briefly made California the second state to allow same-sex marriage. Connecticut became the 3^rd state in October when their state Supreme Court ruled that the current civil union laws were not enough, and that the state has to offer marriage. Next was Iowa in April when the state Supreme Court voted unanimously that marriage should be equal.

Iowa became the new 3^rd state since Connecticut was upgraded to number two when the new marriage ban was approved in California in November 2008. Shortly after Iowa, also in April, Vermont became the 4^th state to legalize same-sex marriage, and the first state to do it through legislative vote. In May Maine became the 5^th state to legalize same-sex marriage, also through legislative vote. Since then there have been a number of states taking up the issue, now it just comes down to which state is next.

• California: After the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, the voters were quick to again ban it. Supports of same-sex marriage quickly filed suit again with the Supreme Court, who heard argument regarding the new ban just five months after it passed. Those arguments, besides being historic, provided little comfort for the supporters of marriage equality. The judges questioned the lawyers intensely, some of those questions being offensive to the LGBT community. The California supporters still hold on to hope that the judges, who just a year ago overturned a similar ban, will follow their own footsteps, and the footsteps of the recent states to approve equality, and overturn the ban yet again. A decision in this case is expect before June 1^st.
• New York: Last week the New York state Assembly approved a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage with a vote of 89-52. It still has to go through the state Senate, where it faces an uncertain fate. There was a rally in favor of same-sex marriage held on Sunday May 17^th where a number of high profile figures showed up to support. Among the supporters was New York Governor Paterson who has stated that if he will sign the bill into law.
• New Hampshire: A bill to legalize same-sex marriage has been bouncing back and forth between the New Hampshire state Senate and House for a few weeks. It has been approved by both branches, and amended multiple times. The latest version, which has been amended at the request of the state’s Governor, John Lynch, who has said he will sign it into law if the amendment was made. The Senate is expected to vote on the amended bill on May 20^th, it will then be sent to the House for approval. Once both branches have approved the bill, it will be signed into law by the Governor.

Obviously, each one of these states is a heartbeat away from approving same-sex marriage, but there is never a guarantee with any of them. So keep your fingers crossed and hold your breath because equality can come at any time!

 There is pro same-sex marriage legislation pending in Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Virginia. The Wisconsin state Supreme Court is going to hear arguments regarding legalization of same-sex marriage sometime before June 2010.