Who Wants to Legalize Gay Marriage?

With the recent legalization of gay marriage in Delaware, the question turns to who is next.  While we all wait for the Supreme Court to render their decision, let's go through the six states most likely to chock up another victory for marriage equality.

Honorable Mentions: New Jersey, Nevada, and New Mexico definitely appear on-track, considering their Democratic legislatures and general blue tint, but both have Republican governors who won't want to alienate their bases, so the best bet in these states would be if Chris Christie, Brian Sandoval, and Susana Martinez were voted out of office, something I'd consider unlikely given their popularity.  Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia all would be in a similar situation, but they have the added complication of having Republican governors and, thanks to gerrymandering, at least one GOP branch of their legislature.  West Virginia would theoretically be a contender, but it's a very conservative set of Democrats, so I just don't see it happening there soon.  Unless the GOP starts singing a different tune on marriage equality, I'll limit this to just the all blue states that haven't had a change of heart yet.

6. Colorado
Perhaps the oddest state on this list, even if it is the most conservative state of the bunch.  The Centennial State has made a strong leftwards tilt in the past decade, landing two Senate seats and the governor's mansion, not to mention going for President Obama twice.  The reason I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't made the leap yet is that John Hickenlooper, the state's governor, is occasionally mentioned as a potential presidential or vice presidential candidate, and while other possible Democratic candidates (Deval Patrick, Martin O'Malley), are climbing over themselves to support gay marriage and gay rights, Hickenlooper seems content with his passage of civil unions.

5. Hawaii
For being essentially the birthplace of the gay marriage movement in the United States, they've been slow to finally pull the plug.  Part of that was Linda Lingle being governor for most of the past decade, but now that Neil Abercrombie's in office, you would think that he would make a push.  However, Hawaii has always been a little less blue on this particular issue, and as one of the few states that still has civil unions, there doesn't seem to be a huge push to make the jump to marriage.

4. Oregon
With a governor that's solidly behind gay marriage (seen left, being the first to sign a gay marriage petition this past February), you'd think this would be an open-and-shut case, but it doesn't seem like that's an option.  From the looks of the movement in the state, though, it appears that they have to pass this via a statewide referendum.  Prominent Beaver State politicians like John Kitzhaber, Barbara Roberts, Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden and Ellen Rosenblum are leading the charge.

3. California
So confident am I in the top two states, I'm putting the state that could well disappear its current statute with the Supreme Court decision in third place.  California is the only state in the country to have once had marriage equality to then have it overturned by a voter referendum.  Honestly, even if this wasn't before the Court, I suspect that the state would now pass gay marriage by statute five years after the disappointment of Prop 8.

2. Minnesota
Movement is happening fast in the Gopher State, with House Speaker Paul Thissen stating that he has the votes, and Governor Mark Dayton, one of the earliest prominent supporters of gay marriage, a big supporter of signing the bill.  The only question would be the State Senate, but Democrats have a nine seat advantage there, and seem likely to pass the bill, even if some Democrats don't support it (already State Sen. Branden Peterson, a Republican, has said he'd support the bill).

1. Illinois
With the bill passed through the Illinois State Senate, through committee in the State House, and Gov. Pat Quinn itching for some liberal love with a difficult primary coming up against Lisa Madigan and Bill Daley, this is all but done.  Right now it's just a question of when.