It seems as though with every week, marriage equality advances in two key areas: public opinion and the federal court system.
Last week saw the release of a large volume of polling data, and the results are perfectly in keeping with trends dating back at least a decade: a steady climb in support for the freedom to marry. In every state surveyed, opposition can be reliably counted on to have dropped over the last few years.
And we also hit key milestones in several states last week. A federal judge in Texas ruled that the state's ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional. And significantly, the ruling came on a motion for preliminary injunction. That means that the plaintiffs are highly likely to prevail, and that the court could see that the marriage-equality ban was causing them significant hardship.
In addition to the Texas ruling, a lawsuit in Virginia is headed toward an expedited briefing schedule. And a court in Michigan will continue to hear testimony this week. That's the first federal marriage-equality trial to hear testimony since AFER's Prop 8 case in California.
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