Just landed in my e-mail:

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will issue a ruling in AFER’s case challenging Prop. 8 tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. PT.

The moment we receive the decision, you’ll be the first to know. Please take a moment and make sure your friends and family know too.

[...]

After a lengthy and thorough trial, the Federal District Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to single out gay and lesbian couples and deny them a fundamental freedom. The anti-marriage Prop. 8 Proponents immediately appealed that decision and now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will issue a decision tomorrow.

At the end of the day, it’s wrong for the government to tell someone they can’t marry the person they love. Couples like our plaintiffs, Kris & Sandy and Jeff & Paul, simply want what other Americans want: to be treated with fairness and dignity.

Marriage is a fundamental American freedom and it’s time our country realizes its promise of equality for all.

Sincerely,

Chad H. Griffin
Board President
American Foundation for Equal Rights

If you’re on that e-mail list, you got it too.

Now it goes to the House, where it’s likely to pass by more than enough:

In the end, it wasn’t even close.

After more than a decade of laying the ground work and fretting that the votes would be just out of reach, state Sen. Ed Murray watched Wednesday night as the Senate easily passed legislation that would legalize gay marriage.

The vote was 28-21.

[...]

While it wasn’t final passage, the Senate always has been viewed as the biggest hurdle for same-sex marriage legislation, as it was for gay-rights bills in previous years.

The measure now heads to the House, where supporters say they have more than enough votes. It’s expected to pass as early as next week. The governor strongly supports the bill as well.

Of course, here comes the bigots with their new and different idea of voting on people’s civil rights, which goes against the definition of “rights,” but whatever.

It looks like it’s going to pass:

The Washington state Senate was expected to vote endorse legalization of gay marriage Wednesday night, which would move the state a step closer to becoming the nation’s seventh to recognize same-sex unions.

[...]

Democratic Senator Ed Murray, its chief sponsor, said last week proponents had secured the 25 votes needed for a simple majority in the 49-seat chamber. Murray has said he hoped to end up with 27 or more votes, though the controversial issue was likely to result in a lengthy floor debate that could last well into the night.

With passage in the state House of Representatives already seen as virtually assured, opponents of same-sex matrimony say they will seek the measure’s repeal with a referendum asking voters to reaffirm marriage as being exclusively between one man and one woman.

The House will likely vote on the bill in the coming weeks and Governor Chris Gregoire will sign it.

Of course, Religious Right bigots will then try to repeal the bill through referendum, blaming “activist legislatures,” at which point they just might get handed a nice big loss, in which case they will blame “activist voters.”

Etc.

Take that, bigots.

[h/t Think Progress]

This is priceless. Just absolutely, breathtakingly priceless. Wingnuts in Minnesota are pushing a constitutional amendment to write anti-gay discrimination into that state’s constitution, and here is their strategery:

Minnesota pastors and lawmakers who support a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman aim to develop varied strategies to win voter support.

At a strategy session today, a gathering of ministers and politicians known as the Faith and Freedom coalition discussed ways to sell the marriage amendment to people who may not hold their fervent views.

Among their solutions: avoiding arguments over whether gays should have the right to marry, presenting marriage as a vehicle for child-rearing and reframing the issue as an opportunity for Minnesotans to exercise their right to vote.

The first rule of Gay Haters Club is that you don’t talk about Gay Haters Club! Yes, that quote really says that they intend to sell this by not talking about the actual stated intention of the amendment, and by simply trying to get Minnesotans excited that they get to vote! Everybody likes voting!

Many GOP lawmakers who voted for the amendment were at the meeting, but the room came to its feet for a last-minute appearance by Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who first proposed a marriage amendment when she was a state senator. Before a room full of supporters she described how to sell the amendment more broadly:

“I think if you want to talk to people who are not interested in talking about the morality you can also come at it as “should people be allowed to vote,” Bachmann said.

That’ll get ‘em excited about hurting their gay family members!

[h/t Tengrain]

This is how fast the kids are changing, and by “kids,” I mean “new voters replacing old bigots at the polls”:

First-year college students are more socially liberal than their predecessors on issues such as same- sex marriage and public education for undocumented students, according to an annual survey released today.

More than 71 percent of respondents who were freshmen in 2011 indicated same-sex couples should be able to marry, up from 64.9 percent two years earlier, according to the survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The survey, which began measuring student opinions and concerns in 1966, also found more students supporting abortion rights, with almost 61 percent saying abortion should be legal. Forty-three percent opposed denying undocumented students access to public higher education, down from 47.2 percent two years earlier.

Good news on all fronts, right there.

“Repeal the repeal”:

Today, advocates for allowing same-sex couples to legally marry in Maine announced plans for a Citizens Initiative to enact a marriage equality law, delivering more than 105,000 signatures from Maine voters who want the issue on the November 2012 ballot to the Secretary of State’s office. The announcement follows two years of outreach and conversations with Mainers about the freedom to marry, statewide polling showing steadily increasing support for allowing same-sex couples to marry – which now stands at 54 percent – and intensive field organizing in preparation for the campaign. “The number of signatures we gathered and the thoughtful conversations we’ve been having with voters tell us that Mainers are eager to speak on this question again,” said Betsy Smith, executive director of EqualityMaine. “Our polling shows a 54% majority of support for same-sex marriage in Maine. Many Mainers have changed their minds and want a chance to bring equality and fairness to our state.”

Stupid that they have to do this, as civil rights really shouldn’t be subject to a show of hands in the first place, ever, but they must be pretty confident this time around.

Responding to the fact that corporations in Washington state, large and small, are lining up to support the law legalizing marriage equality in that state [because it's good for business], Porno Pete:

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) says, “What we’re witnessing is the continued descent of the American corporation into this pro-’gay’ world of celebrating anything that the homosexual activists want.”

“There was a time when homosexual so-called ‘marriage’ was beyond the pale, even for liberal corporate types,” LaBarbera recalls. “But now we see Microsoft, Starbucks, and other major corporations backing this perverse redefinition of marriage. It’s very sad.”

[...]

“They ignore that the majority of states oppose same-sex marriage — not only oppose it, but they put it in their constitutions to keep marriage by its traditional definition,” the AFTAH president notes. “So if they’re really about keeping up with the majority of states, you’d think they’d side with the traditional marriage side.”

He sounds so dejected. I guess that whole alliance between big business and social conservatives is being exposed as the sham it always was, and the fact that the social conservatives have always been the “useful idiots” in the equation is clearer than ever.

Of course, the “majority of states” that enshrined discrimination into their constitutions did so long before gay activists were really in the fight. Re-fight all of those battles again [and they will be refought] and the results would be quite different.

When Joe posted this from Porno Pete, he added a line to the end of the quote that said, simply, “Wait, is that my gerbil ringing?” I think that’s a marvelous new practice, considering Pete’s friendship with Patrick Wooden, who just might be as weird as he is.

I would suggest that wingnuts boycott Google, but judging by their self-imposed disengagement from reality, I think they already have been for years:

Starbucks, Google and Alcoa are the latest large corporations to endorse legalizing gay marriage in Washington, according to the group Washington United for Marriage, which backs the legislation.

Microsoft, Nike and Group Health Plan have already endorsed the legislation, which picked up the 25th and final vote needed in the state Senate for pass the law.

There’s a whole list of other companies in Washington who are supporting the legislation at the above link. It’s worth a gander if you live up that way and have a need for any of their services.

[h/t Joe]

When I was a little kid, we alternately subscribed to the Arkansas Gazette and the Arkansas Democrat. Back in those days, there was an actual rivalry going on between Little Rock’s two major newspapers, and they were constantly tossing subscribers back and forth, depending on who was doing a better job at that point in time. Then, of course, the papers merged and became the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Regardless, I loved it when the paper came, especially on Sundays. I loved the funny papers, of course, like any kid, but I also had this weird obsession with architecture and real estate, and the papers really delivered when it came to that kind of reporting.

My point is that I have history with this paper. So it’s sad to report that, when given the opportunity to break a little bit of ground and publish the commitment ceremony announcement of a gay couple, they chose failure:

Cody Renegar, 35, of Elkins, Ark. asked the Arkansas Democrat Gazette to publish an engagement announcement for his June wedding commitment ceremony, something Renegar said happens for other couples who would like to announce their impending nuptials.

“I called the newspaper and asked how I can submit our announcement for publication,” Renegar told Yahoo! News. “I was told that they won’t publish them until it’s legal.”

Renegar said the newspaper declined to run the announcement because of long-standing policy.

Lame. It’s worth noting that this seems to specifically involve the Democrat Gazette’s Northwest Arkansas affiliate, the Northwest Arkansas Times. However, it’s all the same company, and it seems all branches have the same policy. Also:

According to newspaper representatives, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette charges a minimal fee and has content length requirements, but does run announcements on a regular basis for heterosexual couples, including mixed race couples.

Oh, that is big of you, Democrat Gazette, considering the fact that Loving was handed down in nineteen-sixty-freaking-seven.

There is a petition at Change.org, asking the paper to, instead of being dragged into history as it happens, be a pioneer and refuse to discriminate against any of their readers, regardless of what state law says. Sign it.

[h/t Towleroad]