The Delaware Senate just finished pontificating for hours debating marriage equality legislation and ended with a 12-9 vote in favor. (Update 2:45 PT: The Governor just signed it into law! See updates below for pics.)
Daily Kos' own Cooper got there first on Twitter:
The bill now goes to Governor Markell who has stated he will sign it!
A key vote came out as the debate progressed... on Facebook!
And another surprise out:
Just last week it was Rhode Island's turn, and possibly as soon as next week it could be Minnesota's. The Minnesota House has scheduled a vote for Thursday, two days hence, and the leadership has announced they have the votes for passage. The bill would then go to the Minnesota Senate where it is expected to pass, and the Governor, who has been pushing the legislation strongly, will sign it.
That would leave Illinois. The state many considered the most promising for marriage equality legislation at the beginning of 2013 will likely be the hindmost. The legislation has already passed the Illinois Senate, but finding the votes in the House has clearly proved very difficult. It is a bit of a wonder that Rahm Emmanuel could find the votes for ObamaCare in the US Congress but can't squeeze the necessary votes out of the Illinois House. We shall see.
For those of you unfamilar with the 'Domino Theory' as it applied to Indochina in the 60's and 70's, it was a theory propounded by war hawks that said that if we lost Vietnam to the Communists the other states in Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia) would fall to communist aggression "like dominos." Who could have predicted that this theory would find redemption in marriage equality legislation?
Oh, and lest you think I'm ignoring it, Dominos Pizza sucks. But if you're in Berkeley, CA, make sure you try Gioia's Pizza.
2:17 PM PT: From EqualityOnTrial
Delaware’s law will go into effect on July 1st, after which the state will no longer offer civil unions licenses. Couples with civil unions can convert their unions into marriages after July 1st, or have them automatically converted in July 2014.
“This is an historic day in Delaware,” Equality Delaware President Lisa Goodman said in a press release. “Delawareans of all backgrounds recognize that treating everyone fairly under the law is the right thing to do. Today our State Senate has joined our House of Representatives in voting to pass marriage equality. This law strengthens our families, strengthens our communities and makes Delaware an even better place to live and work. I couldn’t be prouder to be a Delawarean than I am right now.”
http://equalityontrial.com/...
2:21 PM PT: Check out this diary on Delaware, which has interesting live blog comments pro and con and the debate progressed.
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2:45 PM PT: