With California's Prop 8 being struck down in court and Washington state's House of Representatives voting to legalize gay marriage yesterday, it's been a pretty good week on the same-sex equality front. 

Washington's state's lower legislative body voted 55 to 43, with (as it went in New York) two Republicans letting their Log Cabin colors fly. Even at that wide margin, the House was expected to be the more difficult of the two to get the legislation through. So now with the bill's passage in the state's Senate last week and the pro-gay governor's promise to sign the bill as soon as a ceremony is prepped (we assume), Washington state will join Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, and New York as a gay marriage state is all but a formality. Lest, of course, family-values petitioners are able to get a gay-marriage vote on the ballot for November with a referendum.

Rep. Maureen Walsh, one of those pro-gay marriage Republicans whose daughter happens to be gay, said, "Why in the world would we not allow those equal rights to those individuals who are truly committed to each other in life? ... Nothing's different. She's still a fabulous human being. And some day, by God, I want to throw a wedding for that kid."

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