Just one day after France's Constitutional Council approved the country's gay-marriage and adoption bill, French President François Hollande signed the bill into law. Although it was adopted by both the Senate and the National Assembly last month, right-wing opponents had taken one last stab at blocking the bill's passage by contesting it to the Council. France is now the ninth country in Europe, and fourteenth in the world, to recognize gay marriage. The first same-sex weddings can take place as soon as ten days after the bill's signing.

BBC:

After a tortured debate, the same-sex marriage and adoption bill was adopted by France's Senate and National Assembly last month.

The bill was quickly challenged on constitutional grounds by the main right-wing opposition UMP party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

But the Constitutional Council ruled on Friday that same-sex marriage "did not run contrary to any constitutional principles," and that it did not infringe on "basic rights or liberties or national sovereignty".

It said the interest of the child would be paramount in adoption cases, cautioning that legalising same-sex adoption would not automatically mean the "right to a child".

Opinion polls have suggested that approximately 55-60% of French people support same-sex marriage, and about 50% approve of gay adoption.

France is now the 14th country to legalize same-sex marriage after New Zealand in April.

It is also the ninth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriage after legalisation in the traditionally liberal Netherlands and Scandinavia, but also in the strongly Catholic nations of Portugal and Spain. Legislation is also moving through the UK Parliament.

Twelve down, 38 to go. Minnesota’s Senate voted 37–30 to allow same-sex couples to wed on Monday. It will become the 12th state to do so once Gov. Mark Dayton signs the bill, which he’s expected to do on Tuesday. “God made gays. And God made gays capable of loving other people of the same gender. Who are we to quibble with God’s intentions?” Judiciary Committee Chair Ron Latz said to the opposition.

Buzzfeed:

"The state’s sole out gay senator, Sen. Scott Dibble, spoke in support of the bill he had backed.

Of the legislature’s prior decision to push forward the vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay couples from marriage, “I felt excluded,” he says of that decision. He added, though, “In an odd way, I’m kind of grateful, because we had an amazing conversations, Minnesotans,” that he said led to Monday’s vote for marriage equality.

“Today, we have the power, the awesome, humbling power, to make dreams come true, he said. “We will be removing barriers to the full joy life has to offer.” Of himself and his husband, Richard, whom he married in California in 2008, he says, “I’ve met the person I can’t live without.”

Referencing past leaders on the issue, including the late out gay Sen. Allan Spear, Dibble said, “We have an awesome responsibility, and it’s humbling to be in this chamber right now.”

The lead Republican supporter of the bill, Sen. Branden Petersen, spoke during the closing arguments about his reasons for working with Dibble on the bill.

“I stand here, quite honestly, more uncertain of my future in this place than I ever have, but when I walk out of this chamber today … I will be on the side of liberty,” Petersen said."

The bill was passed by the House last week and will go into effect on August 1.

It’s official: Rhode Island became the 10th state to legalize same-sex marriage Thursday evening. The legislation passed the Rhode Island House of Representatives, with 56 votes in favor, to applause from the galleries and House floor. Legislators even broke into a rendition of “My Country ’Tis of Thee.” The bill, which was later signed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee, allows same-sex weddings beginning August 1, and gives couples already in civil unions the right to change their status to married. “At long last, you are free to marry the person you love,” Chafee said.

Watch: New Zealand parliament has voted to make same-sex marriage legal.Those in the public gallery broke into applause and cheered as it was announced the vote passed with 77 votes to 44. They then broke into song.

New Zealand became the 13th nation in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize gay marriage after the country’s Parliament approved a bill Monday, voting 77–44. Cheers erupted in the hall as the votes were counted after two hours of debate, which featured one legislator talking about her daughter’s first formal with her girlfriend. “Like countless other young women, she hopes for love, marriage, children and a house with a white picket fence,” Mojo Mathers said to applause. One M.P. who voted against the bill said he had become more open to gay marriage since being elected, but added that “our society is probably more divided than this House is on this issue.”

Same-sex marriage is now legal in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay.

Same-sex marriage legislation is pending in Britain and France.

Same-sex marriage is only allowed in nine U.S. states, Washington DC, and parts of Brazil and Mexico.

The push to legislate "morality" goes on, and on. But should it? Republican legislators have hammered away at trying to take down Roe v. Wade at the state level. Why is the "morality brigade" so concerned with fetuses, but so quick to cut benefits to children from low income families? Can that behavior really be considered "morality?"

On that matter, is there any argument against same-sex marriage that isn't "morality" based?

Why are corporations given rights that trump those of ordinary people? What about the sweeping Wall Street greed that is decimating our country's economy? Could it be...that this about who has the money and who's working for them? Why isn't the morality brigade fighting that battle? Robert Reich explains the troubling situation.

The U.S. Supreme Court released same-day audio recordings of oral arguments in a case that seeks to strike down a federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from receiving a range of federal benefits that go to other married people.

In the second day of hearings on same-sex marriage, the language of the US supreme court justices has been closely watched.

The quote of the day goes to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who in a discussion about the Defense of Marriage Act, said that it had imposed on the US a two-tier system. According to the New York Times, she told the court:

"There are two kinds of marriage: the full marriage, and then this sort of skim milk marriage.”

Justice Anthony Kennedy on Wednesday joined the four liberals on the Supreme Court in questioning the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples. The court-watching website SCOTUSblog said that it looks “80 percent likely” that the Supreme Court will strike down DOMA. But the conservatives on the court questioned President Obama’s unwillingness to defend DOMA in 2011 -- a possible sign that they could be cautious about striking down the law. The now widely unpopular law, signed in 1996, bans any federal institution from recognizing same-sex marriage.

UPDATE:

There are not 5 votes to strike down #prop8 and recognize equal right to #ssm at this time

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) March 26, 2013

Breaking: key vote Kennedy VERY uncomfortable striking down #prop8. Suggests dismissing case. Would leave in place 9th Cir pro-#ssm ruling.

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) March 26, 2013

Breaking: 1st update- #prop8 unlikely to be upheld; either struck down or #scotus won’t decide case. More in 30 mins.

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) March 26, 2013

The Supreme Court will take the forefront in the same-sex marriage debate on Tuesday and Wednesday when it hears arguments on the constitutionality of California’s controversial Proposition 8 and the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act. If the court strikes down DOMA, married gay couples will be allowed to receive federal benefits in states where same-sex marriage is legal, but it would still be legal for states to outlaw gay marriage, although that would change if Proposition 8 is declared unconstitutional. And things are getting personal: Chief Justice John Roberts’s gay cousin, San Francisco resident Jean Podrasky, will attend Tuesday’s hearing, and she said she “absolutely trust[s] he will go in the right direction.” Meanwhile, in France, hundreds of thousands attended an anti–gay marriage rally in Paris, with dozens arrested as the police fired tear gas on the crowd.

The Hill:

The whole ruling might hinge on this question. Same-sex marriage proponents say marriage is a fundamental right. Lower courts in the DOMA case have agreed, and it’s a view that would require the court to approach DOMA and Proposition 8 with extra scrutiny.

DOMA’s supporters, though, say marriage isn’t a fundamental right, but rather an institution the government created to serve the goal of promoting procreation.

John Eastman, chairman of the board of the National Organization for Marriage, said states have the right to make their own laws to encourage people to have children.

“I think there’s this over-arching issue of whether this is a civil right, that the court should decide against majority rule, or a policy decision,” he said.

As long as the court agrees that reproduction is a key function of marriage, Eastman said, DOMA and Proposition 8 could stand.

Now I see what Faith and Freedom Coalition Chairman Ralph Reed's blathering on the TV on Sunday was all about. David reported that Reed said that the "primary purpose of marriage was procreation." But lesbian Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen shot Reed down with "The point of marriage is love and commitment."

Reed insisted, however, that he is correct and shot back with "What I said is the verdict of social science is overwhelming and irrefutable," refusing to look at at Rosen, who is a same sex parent. It can safely be said that Ralph Reed is a fraidy cat freak.

“It’s a new day in the state of Illinois,” proclaimed Sen. Martin Sandoval before voting to legalize marriage equality for same-sex couples in the Prairie State. The state Senate approved the bill 34–21, and after a vote at the state House, which is held by the Democrats, the state should be on its way to becoming the nation’s 10th to grant equal rights to gay couples. Gov. Pat Quinn has pledged to sign the bill once it arrives on his desk.

Quinn, a supporter of marriage equality, applauded the Senate passage on Thursday, and pledged to sign the “historic” bill.

Thursday’s vote came two years after Illinois lawmakers approved civil unions, which provide legal recognition of a partnership between two people, regardless of gender. But same-sex marriage supporters called the designation “second class status.”

Once the bill is signed, Illinois will become the 10th state in the nation to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.