Oh, that Marriage Equality Momentum

by Michael Jones · 2009-10-01 16:20:00 UTC
Topics:

marriage equality

Massachusetts. Connecticut. Iowa. Vermont. Maine. New Hampshire. They're all of the states that recognize marriage equality (or at least passed legislation to recognize marriage equality). Will Illinois and the District of Columbia be joining their ranks?

Both places are seeing movement on the issue of same-sex marriage. The Illinois State Senate saw its first marriage equality bill introduced today by State Sen. Heather Steans. It couples a bill in the Illinois House for marriage equality, and also matches the increasing support for marriage equality by several high profile politicians in Illinois, including the two folks -- Alexi Giannoulias and David Hoffman -- running for Barack Obama's old U.S. Senate seat.

In D.C., City Councilor David Catania announced that he's getting ready to introduce a bill that will legalize same-sex marriage inside the Beltway. The bill should come on Tuesday of next week, and it's expected that there's enough support on the City Council to pass it.

So add Illinois and D.C. to the list of states where marriage equality takes a potential step forward. We could even expand the list to include New Jersey and New York, which are also seeing a fair share of momentum and political support for marriage equality.

So that's three more states, and the nation's capital. If they all legalize same-sex marriage, nearly one-fifth (20 percent) of the country will recognize full marriage rights.  And that's pretty damn awesome, given where we were just two years ago (one state -- Massachusetts).

(Photo courtesy of exgaysurvivordan's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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