Massachusetts Senate says 'I do' to gay marriage

The future of same-sex marriage in California remains in limbo, but the ripples from the state Supreme Court's May 15 ruling allowing gay marriage have already spread across the nation. In Massachusetts, the state Senate voted Tuesday to nix a nearly century-old law forbidding out-of-state gay couples from tying the knot. From the Los Angeles Times:

Those who fought to repeal the 1913 statute said Tuesday that the move — together with the California court decision — could amplify political momentum nationwide. Hundreds of same-sex couples have taken their vows in California since June 16, when local jurisdictions began accepting civil marriage applications.

"The California ruling was a wake-up call for Massachusetts," said Marc Solomon, campaign director of MassEquality, a coalition backing same-sex unions. "We had to remove the last vestige of marriage discrimination on the books here."

This was the same law that former presidential hopeful and then-Gov. Mitt Romney used to stop couples from getting hitched in 2004, when the state first legalized same-sex marriage. The statute was understood to have targeted interracial unions — an overlap that coincidentally played a key role in the reasoning of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George when he overturned California's gay marriage ban:

[A]s he read the legal arguments, the 68-year-old moderate Republican was drawn by memory to a long ago trip he made with his European immigrant parents through the American South. There, the signs warning "No Negro" or "No colored" left "quite an indelible impression on me," he recalled in a wide-ranging interview Friday.

"I think," he concluded, "there are times when doing the right thing means not playing it safe."

Even lukewarm supporters can cite the positive economic impact of gay marriage, says NPR — a boon that many California businesses can already vouch for.

Massachussetts is moving forward even as the battle in California heats up:

Proponents of same-sex marriage are calling for a boycott of two prominent San Diego hotels because their owner, Doug Manchester, contributed more than $100,000 to the campaign for Proposition 8, the ballot measure that would amend the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Although they expressed outrage about the boycott and a rally planned for Friday, opponents of gay marriage also immediately began using it in their fundraising appeals. ...

Boycotts as part of political campaigns are relatively rare. It is a tactic more often employed by civil rights groups. The dust-up in San Diego — which follows a march last month against another Proposition 8 supporter, Carlsbad car-dealership owner Robert Hoehn -- is another indication that same-sex marriage is a combustible political topic and is viewed by gay marriage advocates as a civil rights issue.

Let's take the pulse of Times readers in the wake of the Prop. 8 controversy:

The first vote on Proposition 8 comes in today, reports Robert Greene. Stay tuned to Opinion L.A. for his follow-up, and for breaking-news updates on all your elections-related needs. Meanwhile, check out the top of Vote-o-rama for comprehensive opinion coverage on gay marriage.

UPDATE: SAME SEX MARRIAGE BAN TO STAY ON BALLOT

*Photo: Rujira Roongruang, an employee at Cake And Art, prepares a special fantasy cake for a same-gender wedding at the shop in West Hollywood, Calif. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press)