In recent months, several polls conducted on a national level have found that in 2011, for the first time, a majority of Americans are for marriage equality. The following Politico release sums up the findings rather effectively:
Poll: Majority back gay marriage
The next question is then how the favorable opinion will be translated into action on a state-by state basis. As the article mentions, the positive responses were not evenly distributed across party lines, and of course party affiliations are not evenly distributed across state lines. This may in fact mean that in many states, marriage equality will be recognized by state supreme courts before it is embodied in legislation by statehouses. Certainly this will be the case more conservative-leaning states.
Closer to home, the next question is how marriage equality will be passed in Annapolis.
In Maryland this past year, there was a bill to legalize marriage between same-sex couples which flew through the Senate, but which died in committee after several attempts to bring it to a vote on the floor of the House of Delegates. Many Democrats in fact were very apprehensive about lending their vote to this bill. In light of these recent nationwide polls, however, it may simply be that although 69% of Democrats are in favor of marriage equality, many of the Democrats in Maryland are from the camp of 31% opposed or indifferent. Why exactly may not yet be clear.
In order to answer the question of how to pass marriage equality in a state like Maryland, which has a strong Democratic majority in its state legislature, it may become necessary to determine which groups within the state and local Democratic Parties are opposed and why. Then, after such data has been acquired, it may be possible to persuade hesitant Democratic legislators and bring them into what is now the majority fold.
*Photo from Politico article linked above. All credit to Politico and its photo source, AP.
