Will the Great Lakes be the Next New England on Marriage Equality?

by Michael Jones · 2009-06-08 15:29:00 UTC
Topics:

Great Lakes LGBT Rights

With same-sex marriage on the books in five out of six states in New England, the "manifest destiny" that is marriage equality is soon going to be on the move.  Is the next region to debate, discuss, and ultimately enact marriage equality going to be the Great Lakes region?

That's one vision offered by the Freep today, where they note that opinions on gay marriage are changing fast in the region. Especially in Michigan, which only five years ago voted in a constitutional referendum to ban same-sex marriage.  Now, we're very close to having a majority of Michigan voters favor marriage equality.

As we mentioned last night, there are already efforts to put marriage equality on the legislative agenda in Pennsylvania.  New York, despite its colossal clusterf*ck of a State Senate (not sure what today's brouhaha in the legislative body means for the future of marriage equality) has been debating the issue for months, and a bill was introduced in Minnesota to recognize marriage equality.  Let's also not forget Illinois, where civil unions almost passed this year (but failed to get unstuck from the state legislature), and Wisconsin, where efforts to expand statewide domestic partnership benefits are currently being debated.

Though it's going to take more time, is the Great Lakes region of the country bound to be the next New England?

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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