Meanwhile, in Maryland and New Jersey, bills to legalize same sex-marriage are expected to receive legislative approval, with opponents vowing to seek referendums in November to overturn the laws. In North Carolina and Minnesota, voters are expected to vote on proposed amendments to ban gay marriage.
Both sides see hope in the shifting landscape, saying momentum is on their side.
Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes gay marriage, said any legislative victories this year would be porous, with popular votes likely to overturn them.
“There will be a lot of ballot initiatives on election day 2012, and we’ve never lost,’’ he said. “There have been 31 popular votes and we’ve won every one.’’
Stuart Gaffney, spokesman for Marriage Equality, a national group that backs gay marriage, said, “We’ve seen more forward movement on marriage equality than on any other civil rights issue. We’ve seen support grow by leaps and bounds.’’
Two of those leaps took place last week when a federal appeals court ruled that a voter-backed initiative barring gay marriage in California was not constitutional; this decision could ultimately end up before the Supreme Court. In Washington state, the governor is poised to sign a gay marriage bill into law today after it won final legislative approval Wednesday.
Currently, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and the District of Columbia permit gay marriage.
Boosting the temperature of the debates is the presidential election campaign. The leading Republican contenders - Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich - oppose gay marriage. President Obama last week said he is still “evolving’’ on the issue.
New England is viewed as the nation’s bulwark of gay marriage: Massachusetts was first to allow it, with the first weddings taking place in 2004. Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont followed suit.
