Polls In 12 More States Support Equal Rights

As of August 1st (less than three weeks from now), same-sex marriage will be legal in 13 states (Massachusetts, California, New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, Rhode Island, and Minnesota) and the District of Columbia. That represents about 30% of the population of the United States.

That's not nearly enough. But since the Supreme Court wimped out and refused to uphold the constitutional guarantee of equal rights under the law for all citizens, it looks like this battle will have to be fought on a state-by-state basis -- and that could take a while (even though a significant majority of Americans support legalizing same-sex marriages). Fortunately, it looks like the citizens of several more states may be ready for true equality.

The map above is from the website of The New Civil Rights Movement. The states in blue are those that don't currently recognize the legality of same-sex marriages, but where either a majority of the citizens or more support than oppose legalizing same-sex marriages. Here are the most recent numbers for those states:

New Jersey, 64% support – 30 % opposition (3/2013)

Michigan, 57% support – 38 % opposition (5/2013)

Virginia, 56% support – 33 % opposition (5/2013)

Arizona, 55% support – 35 % opposition (5/2013)

Hawaii, 55% support – 36 % opposition (1/2013)

Nevada, 54% support – 43 % opposition (2/2013)

Oregon, 54% support – 40 % opposition (12/2012)

Pennsylvania, 54% support – 41 % opposition (5/2013)

Colorado, 51% support – 43 % opposition (4/2013)

Illinois, 50% support – 29 % opposition (2/2013)

Tennessee, 49% support – 46 % opposition (5/2013)

Ohio, 48% support – 44 % opposition (4/2013

If all of these states jumped on the equality bandwagon, it would represent half of all states (and more than half of the U.S. population) would recognize the equality of all citizens. Unfortunately that will be very difficult in some of these states (like Arizona and Tennessee), where the state government is run by right-wing Republicans (who have displayed a marked distaste for equal rights). But others might soon legalize equality. Bit by bit the battle for equal rights is spreading across this nation. It's no longer a matter of if it will happen, but just how long it will take.