Delaware, Continuing a Trend, Becomes the 11th State to Allow Same-Sex Unions

By ERIK ECKHOLM

Published: May 7, 2013 - New York Times

Delaware on Tuesday became the 11th state to permit same-sex marriage, the latest in a string of victories for those working to extend marital rights to gay and lesbian couples.

The marriage bill passed the State Senate by a vote of 12 to 9 Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s a great day in Delaware,” said Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, who signed it within minutes of passage before an overjoyed crowd of activists. “I am signing this bill now because I do not intend to make any of you wait one moment longer.”

Same-sex couples will be eligible for marriage licenses on July 1.

Delaware adopted same-sex marriage just five days after a similar decision in Rhode Island and after ballot-box victories last fall in Maine, Maryland and Washington.

During three hours of emotional debate before the vote Tuesday, State Senator Karen Peterson, a Democrat, said she had lived with a female partner for 24 years, and she challenged opponents of extending marriage to gay couples. “If my happiness somehow demeans or diminishes your marriage, then you need to work on your marriage,” she said, eliciting cheers and laughter.

A Republican opponent of the bill, Senator Greg Lavelle, said before the vote, “We won’t fully understand the impact of this legislation for years to come.” Mr. Lavelle, the minority whip, said it was “strange” to “have to defend traditional marriage that we have known for thousands of years.”

In Maine, Maryland and Washington in November, same-sex marriage won in state referendums for the first time. In eight other states, now including Delaware, and in the District of Columbia it has been adopted by legislatures or required by court decisions.

Public opinion on the issue is shifting quickly, with polls showing that a majority of Americans support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

“The momentum continues,” said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, a New York-based advocacy group that aided the campaign in Delaware.

Gay rights groups are hopeful that same-sex marriage will pass soon in Minnesota, where House members are expected to consider it this week, and in Illinois, where the Senate has approved a bill but a vote has not been scheduled in the House.

Short of a sweeping decision by the Supreme Court that same-sex marriage is a right, change could come more slowly in the coming years. Thirty states have adopted constitutional amendments limiting marriage to a man and a woman — measures that can be reversed only with public ballots.

“We’re not discouraged,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which has helped finance opposition to same-sex marriage proposals across the country.

“The states that have passed same-sex marriage are deep-blue liberal states,” Mr. Brown said, arguing that his opponents usually find it easier to win in legislatures than in popular votes.

Both sides are waiting for the Supreme Court to announce two decisions in June that could alter the marriage landscape.

In one case, the court will decide whether the federal government should recognize same-sex marriage in states where it is legal. In the other, it will decide the fate of California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state after a court had declared it a legal right.