The Delaware Senate has just passed HB 75, the Marriage Equality bill, 12 to 9. The vote went as we expected, with Senator Hall Long deciding at the last minute to vote yes. Thank you to her. I know I and others have been tough on her, and I know her vote was not needed and so she could have skipped it or not voted, but she stood up and voted to be on the right side of history. And thank you to Senators Blevins, Bushweller, Cloutier, Henry, Townsend, Peterson, Marshall, McDowell, McBride, Poore and Sokola for your votes today. We will have your back. Senators Townsend, Marshall, Bushweller and Peterson gave amazing speeches, but I would like to clear up something for the national media, who are already running with this, but Karen Peterson has been out as gay for years. She did not break news today. But hey, who am I to ruin your story?
I am told that Governor Markell is going to sign this bill right away, on the steps of the General Assembly. Here is a picture of him in the halls right now:
We will have a pic of the signing in 10-12 minutes.
Here is Rob Tornoe’s great cartoon:
And the Governor signs the bill, making the title of this post finally legally and technically accurate.
How the votes broke down:
