Experts believe the security afforded to gay couples through marriage will pave the way for gay families among couples hesitant to adopt before due to fears about their legal rights in the absence of a marriage license.

Read the full story in The New York Times.

In passing the legislation, New York State became the sixth state to provide gay couples with marriage rights. The event also marked the first time a Republican-led legislature passed marriage equality.

Read additional coverage by The Wall Street Journal.

He added, “You are sons and daughters, you are sisters and brothers, we are all children of God.”

Read the full story and see video at Capitol Confidential.

Says Hoover: “It is time now for our party in this state to carry the march of freedom one step further. Same-sex marriage is consistent with the party’s legacy of individual freedom and limited government. It is a profoundly conservative virtue.”

You can read the full op-ed here.

More than half of Catholics polled (56%) say that homosexual sexual relationships are not sinful.

It seems a majority of the American people now favor allowing gay men and lesbians to wed. That majority, according to a Washington Post/ABC News survey released last week, is slender, just 51 percent. But even at that, it represents a significant increase from just five years ago, when only 36 percent of Americans approved.

Other polling organizations have reported similar trends, and for those who believe gay men and lesbians ought to be free to solemnize and formalize their relationships, that is very good news. It means they are — we are — winning the argument. That is cause for celebration.

But lurking at the edge of celebration there is, for me, at least, a nagging, impatient vexation. That vexation is based in what is arguably an esoteric question: In extolling the fact that the majority now approves same sex marriage, do we not also tacitly accept the notion that the majority has the right to judge?”

Biased or not, similar polls by the Pew Research Center, the Associated Press and CNN also have similar results, that is, all with strong leanings towards marriage equality.  This nationwide trend is seen with more states considering legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, President Obama’s instructions to the Justice Department to stop defending DOMA court cases, and Democrats proposing legislation to repeal DOMA entirely.  While all of these still face major challenges, every step in the right direction is a step towards equality.

This milestone result caps a dramatic, long-term shift in public attitudes. From a low of 32 percent in a 2004 survey of registered voters, support for gay marriage has grown to 53 percent today. Forty-four percent are opposed, down 18 points from that 2004 survey.

The issue remains divisive; as many adults “strongly” oppose gay marriage as strongly support it, and opposition rises to more than 2-1 among Republicans and conservatives and 3-1 among evangelical white Protestants, a core conservative group. But opposition to gay marriage has weakened in these groups from its levels a few years ago, and support has grown sharply among others – notably, among Catholics, political moderates, people in their 30s and 40s and men.