Yesterday, a referendum on marriage equality in Maryland qualified for the ballot. Adam Serwer is optimistic:
For once, the National Organization for Marriage, America's main anti-marriage equality group, may be operating at a disadvantage. Black Marylanders once supported banning gay marriage, but that changed after President Barack Obama endorsed marriage equality. While earlier polls showed more than 50 percent of black voters opposed to same-sex marriage, the Democratic-leaning polling firm Public Policy Polling found in May that a majority of black voters now support same-sex marriage rights. And even before black voters flipped, polls showed that Marylanders overall opposed banning gay marriage.
Meanwhile, marriage equality is polling well in Maine:
Mainers support legalizing same-sex marriage, 57 percent to 35 percent, according to a statewide poll commissioned by the Portland Press Herald.
Another sign of progress: the Episcopal Church is allowing priests to "conduct services bestowing the church's blessing on same-sex couples," which makes it "the largest denomination in the States to officially sanction same-sex relationships."
The Dish 