What a week for marriage equality.

Following signing of the law in Washington Monday, then a decisive vote for same-sex marriage in the New Jersey legislature Thursday, lawmakers in the Maryland House voted today in favor of marriage equality in their state for the first time.

Nearly a year ago, the House voted to shelve a marriage bill by sending the legislation back to committee — this after it became clear that supporters simply did not have enough votes. But the Senate passed the bill and is expected to do so again this year. Gov. Martin O’Malley has pushed for the law and pledged to sign it. “Today, the House of Delegates voted for human dignity,” he said in a statement after the vote.

The Maryland House of Delegates needed 71 votes to pass the bill. Whether the chamber had the requisite votes was a matter of much speculation just hours before the vote. Pro-marriage equality lawmakers Thursday had to delay consideration of the legislation until today, when it passed 72 to 67 as cheers erupted from the gallery and on the floor.

Del. Anne Kaiser, a lesbian, said during debate of the bill that her parents had hoped she “finds someone to love.” Then, “I have, and I wish to be married.” Del. Maggie McIntosh, who come out as a lesbian while serving in the House, said “We seem to be on a roll.”

First, Democratic lawmakers succeeded in defeating a string of amendments that tried to transform the bill into a voter referendum or a civil unions law, plus one attempt to delay the vote until Monday so Republicans had enough time to ask the attorney general a question. Ultimately, the only amendment to pass was one from Democrats that claimed to give the courts the power to hold up implementation of the law if legal challenges are still outstanding.

On Thursday bill supporters agreed to an amendment that would push the effective date of the legislation to January of next year. Opposition groups have already begun collecting signatures for a potential November referendum. Only 53,650 signatures are needed to put the issue on the ballot.

Anti-marriage equality groups, including the National Organization for Marriage, told supporters they were “working the halls of the Capitol” as lawmakers considered the bill. And opponents were vocal on the floor of the House during debate.

“I’m not voting against this bill in judgment of these people,” Del. Patrick McDonough told his colleagues. “I am voting against this bill because of what my God told me.”

Minority Leader Anthony O’Donnell suggested that passage was aided by inappropriate political deals. “We all are not blind, and we all are not deaf,” O’Donnell said at the start of debate.

Meanwhile, national pro-marriage equality figures including New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman, who came out in 2010 and whose campaign contributions to anti-equality GOP candidates have recently come under scrutiny, called a small number of undecided delegates and asked them to support the bill, according toThe Baltimore Sun. The Sun claimed that even former vice president Dick Cheney offered to call Del. Wade Kach, who had been on the fence.

On Thursday morning, Kach, from Baltimore County, became the second Republican in the chamber to announce his support for the bill. The delegate said his thinking on the issue had “evolved” over recent months and that the enhanced religious exemptions in the bill championed by O’Malley were “instrumental” to his decision to change his vote.

“While no one event or conversation prompted me to come to this decision, I was significantly moved by the testimony of families — who are raising children in a loving environment and deserve every right to enjoy the same protections and responsibilities that our laws provide for others,” Wade said in a statement.

On Thursday, the New Jersey Assembly passed the Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act for the first time in a 42-33 vote. The historic passage, following Senate approval on Monday, turned the spotlight to Gov. Chris Christie, who fulfilled his pledge to veto the measure Friday, even as Maryland lawmakers debated. Supporters say they have two years to find enough votes needed to override the veto.

And on Monday, Gov. Christine Gregoire in Washington signed a marriage equality bill into law there. It is scheduled to go into effect on June 7, unless anti–marriage equality groups gather enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot in November.

Washington would become the seventh state in the nation, plus the District of Columbia, to legalize same-sex marriage, with Maryland possibly becoming the eighth.

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BREAKING: Washington state is poised to sign marriage equality into law.

Governor Chris Gregoire has stood strong amid hateful pushback from the right.

Thank Governor Gregoire for leading this fight, and urge her to campaign against the right wing’s anti-marriage efforts in the
coming months.

Reblogged from Queer Landia:

Last night I had the great pleasure of attending the world premiere of a wonderful documentary, The Right To Love: An American Family at the Castro Theater. Directed by Cassie Jaye, the film follows the heart breaking and heart warming story of the Leffew Family, husbands Jay and Bryan, and their adopted children, Selena and Daniel in the California city of Santa Rosa. …

Today 9:14 AM PST by JOSH GROSSBERG

In a segment on The O’Reilly Factor last night, the Fox News pundit surprisingly stood up for the openly gay comedian and talk show host against the conservative group One Million Moms, which is organizing a boycott against JCPenney for hiring DeGeneres as as spokeswoman.

Here’s what he had to say in a segment with guest Sandy Rios, a Fox News contributor who supported the Million Moms’ anti-gay stance in the name of “traditional values.”

Suggesting such hostility is not in “the spirit of America,” O’Reilly insisted the proposed protest is all about DeGeneres.

“If you remember with the McCarthy era of the 1950s and they were trying to hunt down communist sympathizers and not let them work and put them on a blacklist…what is the difference between the McCarthy era of the ’50s and the Million Moms saying, ‘Hey, JCPenney and all you other stores, don’t you hire gay people. Don’t you dare.’ What’s the difference?”

Rio countered the boycott was necessary because DeGeneres has “chosen to act out her lesbian lifestyle and marry her partner and what that represents.”

“People that believe that marriage is between a man and woman and children should not be exposed and propagandized in homosexuality have a moral problem with that,” she said. “It’s disturbing to them. They are trying to say to JCPenney please don’t do that.”

O’Reilly accused her of dodging his point that right-wingers are wrong in trying to get an American citizen fired because of her lifestyle.

“This JCPenney thing is a witchhunt and shouldn’t happen,” O’Reilly concluded.

DeGeneres, meanwhile, responded to the Million Moms attack in an episode of her eponymous talk show set to air today. In the segment, she reads from the group’s statement claiming JCPenney was hopping on the “pro-gay bandwagon.”

“Being gay or pro-gay isn’t a bandwagon. You don’t get a free ride anywhere. There’s no music…Occasionally we’ll sing ‘We Are Family.’ But that’s about it.”

The Fox News host isn’t the only one supporting DeGeneres. The majority of commenters on Million Moms Facebook defended the comic and have vowed to shop at the retail giant, which has issued a statement saying it stands by its partnership with DeGeneres.

• Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, left, and his partner Michael Shiosaka wave at spectators in the upper gallery as Rep. Joe McDermott looks on after the Washington state Senate voted for a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage Wednesday evening, Feb. 1, 2012, in Olympia, Wash. The measure now moves to the House, which has enough votes to pass the bill. Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire supports the measure and said she will sign it into law. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

SEATTLE–As gay couples and their supporters cheered the Washington state Senate’s unexpectedly swift and decisive passage of a same-sex marriage bill, opponents were already considering how to take down the anticipated law.

By a 28-21 vote on Wednesday night, the state Senate passed legislation to legalize gay marriage with exemptions for religious organizations opposed to conducting same-sex weddings or renting their facilities for gay nuptials.

Four Republicans joined 24 Democrats in supporting the bill, which would make Washington the seventh state to recognize same-sex matrimony. Three Democrats sided with 18 Republicans in opposing it.

The measure now heads to the state House of Representatives, where Democrats hold an even wider majority and the bill’s passage by a comfortable margin is expected as early as next week.

Governor Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, has said she would sign a gay marriage bill into law.

With the bill seemingly headed for swift enactment, several parallel efforts by opponents are shaping up to rally Washington voters against the prospective law. Their options included two possible ballot measures in November — a referendum to repeal the gay marriage statute outright and an initiative defining marriage as being exclusively between one man and one woman.

The National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same sex marriage, also has pledged to provide financial backing for conservative challengers to the four Republican senators who supported the bill when they run for reelection.

DUELING BALLOT QUESTIONS

The proposed initiative to define marriage as between heterosexual couples, led by Everett, Washington attorney Stephen Pidgeon, needs to gather 241,153 signatures of registered voters by July 6 to secure a spot on the ballot.

A referendum to repeal gay marriage would only need 120,577 signatures by June 6, but supporters of that measure must wait until after Gregoire signs the bill before starting to collect them.

“My guess is that foes of gay marriage will be going with the referendum challenge, since it takes fewer signatures and it gives a direct vote up or down on gay marriage,” said Dave Ammons, spokesman for the Washington secretary of state’s office. “The initiative seems to be a backup plan.”

Pidgeon, 57, said he will support the repeal referendum, too, but noted that his initiative can get started sooner and is not based on what lawmakers decide to do.

“We have a tremendous amount of enthusiasm about the initiative. People are gearing up, and we’re going to move ahead strongly, and I believe quickly,” he said. “We already have hundreds of churches that have already pledged thousands of signatures.”

Without the referendum challenge, a gay marriage law would take effect June 7, 90 days after the March 8 conclusion of the legislative session. If the referendum qualifies for the ballot, the law would be suspended until the November election and certification of the returns, meaning December 6, before it is either repealed or goes into effect.

Under the initiative process by contrast, gay marriages could proceed June 7, regardless of the ballot-qualification process. It is unclear whether any unions officiated in the meantime would be nullified if Pidgeon’s measure were to pass in November.

There is precedent in California for handling such a situation. California’s Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2008, only for voters to approve a constitutional amendment six months later defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The state’s high court ruled that the 18,000 same-sex couples who tied the knot between May and November, 2008, were still legal.

Chris Plante, regional coordinator for the New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage (NOM), said that his group plans to back the referendum effort, but will “keep the initiative in our back pocket.”

“We’re going to go forward as a united group because what’s more important than the process is the end game of overturning this law and restoring marriage to its rightful definition,” he said.

His group has not decided how much money it could provide for a ballot campaign to ban same-sex marriage, Plante said, but he estimated that such an effort would cost over $2 million.

The group said it will also follow through on its pledge to spend $250,000 to defeat the Republican senators who voted for the bill, should they seek office again.

“Politicians have to understand that there’s a price to pay for voting to redefine marriage — it is not what the people of Washington want,” Plante said.

Evidence of how Washington voters feel about same-sex marriage is mixed.

According to a University of Washington poll of state voters last October, 44 percent said they support the right to marry for gay men and lesbians, but 55 percent said that if such a law was already on the books they would not vote to overturn it.

According to Plante, voters in 31 states have approved ballot measures to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples, and voters have never approved same-sex marriage in any state referendum. All six states to have legalized gay marriage have done so either through the courts or state legislatures.

In 2009, voters approved Washington state’s expanded domestic partnership benefits by a vote of 53 to 47 percent, despite a campaign against that ballot measure.

Pidgeon, who worked on that campaign, said he believes a ballot question against gay marriage would be more successful, because people who may be otherwise supportive or undecided about same-sex partnerships “draw the line” at marriage. Such voters, he said, are now more convinced that state lawmakers are leading them down a slippery slope.

Pidgeon filed his initiative with the Secretary of State’s Office on January 9. It ranks among more than a dozen initiatives proposed so far, their subjects ranging from marijuana to plastic bag use.

Evangelical Pastor Steven Andrew, president of the USA Christian Ministries in California, has called for a national boycott of Starbucks in response to the Seattle-based company’s endorsement of the gay marriage bill, and for Christians to stop serving the coffee brand at their facilities and events.

“Starbucks can follow Satan if they want to. However, pastors are to help Christians. Are you on the Lord’s side? Will you help the USA be blessed by God?” he said in a written statement.

Asked about the call for a boycott, Starbucks repeated its longstanding support for equality of gays and lesbians.

“Starbucks is proud to join other leading Northwest employers in support of Washington state legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples,” the company said in an email to Reuters.

By Nicole Neroulias

(AP)  OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington state Senate has passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, bringing the state a step closer to becoming the seventh to allow lesbian and gay couples to wed. But the threat of a ballot challenge looms.

The packed public galleries burst into applause as the Senate passed the measure on a 28-21 vote Wednesday night after nearly an hour and a half of debate. Four Republicans crossed party lines and voted with majority Democrats for the measure. Three Democrats voted against it.

The measure now heads to the House, which is expected to approve it and could take action on it as early as next week. Gov. Chris Gregoire supports the measure and has said she will sign it into law, though opponents have promised to challenge it at the ballot with a referendum.

Democratic Sen. Ed Murray, the bill’s sponsor, said he knew same-sex marriage “is as contentious as any issue that this body has considered in its history.”

Lawmakers who vote against gay marriage “are not, nor should they be accused of bigotry,” he said.

“Those of us who support this legislation are not, and we should not be accused of, undermining family life or religious freedom,” said Murray, a gay lawmaker from Seattle who has spearheaded past gay rights and domestic partnership laws in the state. “Marriage is how society says you are a family.”

Murray mentioned his partner of more than 20 years — Michael Shiosaki — as he told his Senate colleagues before the vote “regardless of how you vote on this bill, an invitation will be in the mail” to their future wedding.

Nearly a dozen amendments were debated, including several that passed that strengthen legal protections for religious groups and organizations. A handful were rejected, including one that would exempt photographers, cake decorators and other business owners who object to gay marriage from the law, and another that called for a referendum clause to be added to the bill.

Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, argued that the proposed law alters the definition of marriage and “will lead to the silencing of those who believe in traditional marriage.”

“It’s ironic how a bill which purports to be about ending discrimination leaves the door open so far for discrimination going in the other direction,” he said. “I’m extremely concerned that without additional protections, this legislation will create a hostile environment for those of us who believe in traditional marriage.”

Even though the referendum clause amendment was rejected, opponents have already promised to file a challenge to the legislation. But that can’t be done until after it is passed by the full Legislature and signed into law by Gregoire. Opponents then must turn in 120,577 signatures by June 6.

If opponents aren’t able to collect enough signatures, gay and lesbian couples would be able to be wed starting in June. Otherwise, they would have to wait until the results of a November election.

Before last week, it wasn’t certain the Senate would have the support to pass the measure, as a handful of Democrats remained undecided.

Same-sex marriage is legal in New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia.

Lawmakers in New Jersey and Maryland are expected to debate gay marriage this year, and Maine could see a gay marriage proposal on the November ballot.

Proposed amendments for constitutional bans on gay marriage will be on the ballots in North Carolina on May 8 and in Minnesota on Nov. 6.

Under the measure that passed Wednesday, the more than 9,300 couples currently registered in domestic partnerships would have two years to either dissolve their relationship or get married. Domestic partnerships that aren’t ended prior to June 30, 2014, would automatically become marriages.

Domestic partnerships would remain for senior couples where at least one partner is 62 years old or older. That provision was included to help seniors who don’t remarry out of fear they could lose certain pension or Social Security benefits.

Alex Guenser, a 26-year-old engineer, drove down to Olympia from his Redmond home with his boyfriend to watch the Senate debate.

“I’m really excited to have Washington pass this,” he said. “I’m excited for my state.”

___

The gay marriage bill is Senate Bill 6239.