LONDON – The House of Lords voted today to approve the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

On May 21 the House of Commons, the lower chamber of Parliament, voted 366-161 to approve the bill. The bill would only apply to England and Wales.

Today, the House of Lords first had to vote down an amendment by Lord Dear, who has made all sorts of anti-gay and homophobic claims during the debate. The House of Lords overwhelmingly voted 390-148 to reject Lord Dear's attempt to derail marriage equality.

LOS ANGELES -- California is ready for the resumption of marriage for same-sex couples, Equality California announced today based on polling of likely voters showing 55% favor the freedom to marry, an increase of 18% since 2004.

Intensity of support has increased dramatically as well, with those who strongly favor the freedom to marry increasing from 24% to 42% over the same time period. (Poll documentation can be found HERE.

SAN DIEGO -- The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) will host its annual “It Takes A Family To Raise A Village” (ITAF) conference this weekend in San Diego, gathering some of the country’s most notorious anti-equality activists to peddle homophobic smears and misinformation to a group of college-aged students.

On May 30 to June 1, college students will gather at San Diego’s Town & Country Resort to participate in NOM’s fifth annual ITAF conference – a weekend-long event aimed at preparing college students to defend “traditional marriage.”

DETROIT -- Michigan state senators late Wednesday proposed four pieces of legislation that would advance recognition of same-gender marriages in the
state. Three of the bills specifically address same-gender relationship recognition in Michigan.

An additional resolution calls on the federal government to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which restricts the federal government's recognition of same-gender marriages.