Same-Sex Marriage State of the Union

Reuters: "Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire signed legislation on Monday to legalize gay marriage, putting the state on track to become the seventh in the nation to recognize same-sex matrimony."

Gregoire, a Democrat and a Catholic, signed the measure to raucous applause at a statehouse ceremony in Olympia, declaring, "This is a very proud moment. ... I'm proud of who and what we are as a state."

But the measure, which won final approval from state lawmakers last Wednesday, cannot take effect before early June, following a standard enactment period that runs until 90 days after the end of Washington's legislative session.

Opponents of the Washington measure have vowed to seek its repeal at the polls in November.

Blah blah snore.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, the state Senate has "passed a bill that would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, in the face of Republican Governor Chris Christie's promise to veto it."

The Senate voted 24-16 in favor of the measure, sending it to the Assembly, which plans to consider it Feb. 16. Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, have made gay marriage a priority for 2012, two years after they failed to pass a similar bill supported by then-Governor Jon Corzine.

Christie, 49, opposes same-sex marriage and wants voters to decide the issue in a referendum.

Sure, because there's nothing totally reprehensible about giving a privileged majority the opportunity to vote on the rights of a marginalized minority. Ahem.

In any case, even if it does come up for a vote, a new Rutgers poll has found 54% of New Jersey voters in support of same-sex marriage, so phhbbbbt.

And in Illinois, where civil unions were smoothly passed into law by the legislature last year, "three legislators [have] filed what they call the 'Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act' [which] would eliminate the part of state law that now explicitly prohibits gay marriages and would offer same-sex couples the marriage rights now exclusively available to heterosexual couples. The measure also says religious groups will be free to decide which marriages they will perform."

Because of the way the population is distributed in the US, over 40% of USians now live in a state in which some form of legal partnership is recognized by the state. Feel the homomentum!