Colorado: A civil union bill continues to plug through the Colorado legislature. First, a civil union bill advanced through the Colorado House Judiciary Committee on a 8-3 vote. Then it passed 7-6 in the House Finance Committee on March 6th. Then it passed through the House Appropriations Committee on a 9-4 bipartisan vote on March 8th. I get confused by all of these committees and sub-committees, but it looks like the bill is now ready to be voted on by the full Colorado House. I keep hearing that it will be considered for a vote next week, but no actual vote date has been scheduled. I suspect it'll be one of those "we'll see it when we see it" bills.
Minnesota: A same-sex marriage bill is expected to clear legislative committees in both the Minnesota House and Senate next week. The bill would then have to be considered by and passed by both the full House and Senate. The linked article notes that they will wait a few weeks once this bill passes out of committee to secure more votes. Gov. Mark Dayton has indicated that he will sign a marriage equality bill. It's worth noting that new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll was released this past Tuesday indicating that 53% of Minnesotans do not support same-sex marriage compared to 38% who do support the legal recognition of the state's gay and lesbian marriages.
Odawa Indian Tribe: Early last week in Michigan the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians began the process of becoming the third Native American tribe within this country to recognize the same-sex marriages of its tribal members. A 5-4 tribal council vote last Sunday passed that effectively allowed same-sex couples couples to get married and to be recognized by the tribal government. The statute will now go to the tribal chairman, who can either sign this into law or veto this statute. The chairman has to wait 28 days to make a formal decision. The linked article does not offer any hints to which way Little Traverse Bay Bands Chairman Dexter McNamara will go; just that he needs time to thoughtfully consider his decision.
It is possible that there have been many different public opinion polls this past week throughout the country about same-sex marriage, but I haven't noticed many. I already noted the one Minnesota poll. Here is the other one I did notice:
Delaware: A new Global Strategy Group poll found that a majority of Delaware voters support the passage of legislation that would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in that state by a margin of 54% in favor compared to 37% against. Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware also appears to support the passage of this type of bill into law.