The Minnesota House voted 75-59 on May 9 for legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage while protecting religious freedoms.
Lawmakers, as they said repeatedly in floor speeches, voted for love, equality, freedom when they hit the green lights.
Minnesota appears poised to legalize gay marriage, as the Democratic speaker of the state House said this week that a gay marriage bill endorsed by the governor and likely to pass in the state Senate also now has enough backing in his chamber.
The House will vote on the measure today (May 9), and if it passes, the Democratic-led Senate could vote on it as soon as May 11.
UPDATED: The “First State” has become the 11th state to legalize same-sex marriage.
The Delaware Senate on May 7 voted 12-9 to allow same-sex couples to enter civil marriages in the state. The measure already passed the House of Representatives with a 23-18 vote.
The Vikings released punter Chris Kluwe on May 6, bringing an end to his colorful and outspoken eight-year stay in Minnesota.
Kluwe announced the news on Twitter shortly after meeting with Vikings GM Rick Spielman, a move that had been expected ever since the team spent a fifth-round draft pick on punter Jeff Locke at the end of last month.
Religious leaders said on May 8 that adding protections for LGBT families to federal immigration legislation could risk their support for the bill, setting up a potential Senate showdown.
But civil rights leaders say that the measure isn’t comprehensive unless it includes protections for binational same-sex couples who, because of discriminatory laws, do not have federal recognition of their relationships.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has filed an LGBT-inclusive amendments to the immigration reform bill, the proposed Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act.
Leahy is a Democrat from Vermont and has long supported legislation to protect LGBT binational families.
The Minnesota House of Representatives has announced that HF1054, which would extend civil marriage to same-sex couples, will get a floor vote on May 9.
House leaders have repeatedly said that the bill would not be brought to the floor without the 68 votes needed for passage.
A former rural Iowa court official pleaded guilty on May 6 to forgery for filing false documents to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple from central Florida, in the first case of its kind in Iowa.
Former Grundy County deputy clerk Brigitte Van Nice, 42, received a fine and a suspended sentence after entering the guilty pleas to perjury and forgery charges at the courthouse in Grundy Center, where she used to work.
A judge ruled on May 8 that cheerleaders at a Southeast Texas high school can display banners emblazoned with Bible verses at football games.
But the ruling might not have settled the issue of whether the banners are protected free speech, according to an attorney for the cheerleaders' school district.
A San Francisco lawmaker said on May 7 that he has abandoned a proposal to rename San Francisco International Airport after slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk and instead plans to pursue getting an airport terminal named in Milk's honor.
Supervisor David Campos said he gave up on the idea of putting a question on the city ballot asking voters to approve the name change after the plan generated a fair amount of opposition, including from the city's daily newspaper and Mayor Edwin Lee.
Embattled Illinois Republican Party chairman Pat Brady has resigned. Brady had come under fire from conservatives in the GOP for his support for marriage equality, specifically the bill pending in the Illinois House to legalize marriage for same-sex couples who now have access to second-class civil unions.
On his CNN show yesterday, media critic Howard Kurtz pointed a finger at himself, apologizing for a story on gay basketball player Jason Collins that he said was riddled with errors and shouldn’t have been written in the first place.
The extraordinary edition of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” contained not only his apology but also a session with two other media critics who sharply questioned Kurtz’s credibility.
