In response to the defeat, Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart denounced the "cowards in the state legislature who talked out of both sides of their mouths to the gay community and who refused to heed the call of leadership." He particularly called out "African Americans who can't or refuse to see that one's civil rights should not be encumbered by race or sexual orientation."

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Delaware Civil Unions

On April 14, 2011, the Delaware state House, on a bipartisan 26-15 vote, passed a robust civil unions bill that accords gay and lesbian couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage except for the name. The bill also provides that comparable same-sex unions including marriages from other jurisdictions will be recognized as civil unions in Delaware. The bill passed the state senate on April 6 on a 13-6 vote. Governor Jack Markell, a Democrat and a supporter of the bill, signed it to make Delaware the eighth state to enact robust civil unions or domestic partnerships.

"Today, we celebrate a victory for all Delaware families who will have the tools to protect themselves in good times and in bad," said Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese.

Victory in New York

In 2009, marriage equality advocates suffered a humiliating defeat when a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in New York was rejected by the Democratic-contolled Senate after easily winning approval in the Assembly. Despite the strong support of Governor Patterson, several Democrats and all Republicans voted against the bill.

In response, gay rights groups, including Fight Back New York, targeted for defeat several Democratic legislators who did not support same-sex marriage, and in the 2010 election, many of those so targeted lost their seats, though the Republicans took control of the Senate when 32 Republicans were elected to the 62-seat chamber.

In 2010, however, Andrew Cuomo was elected governor by a large margin. He pledged to make marriage equality a priority of his administration.

In March 2011, Governor Cuomo met with representatives of the state's leading gay rights organizations, including the Empire State Pride Agenda, Freedom to Marry, Human Rights Campaign, Log Cabin Republicans, and New York Marriage Equality, and devised a highly disciplined campaign to build support in the state for marriage equality. By the summer of 2011, polls showed a solid majority of New Yorkers in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage.

Advocates moved aggressively to capitalize on that shift in public opinion, flooding the offices of lawmakers with phone calls, e-mails, and postcards and letters from constituents who favored same-sex marriage. In addition, high-profile supporters of marriage equality, such as New York City's Mayor Bloomberg and its openly gay Speaker of the City Council Christine Quinn, and both United States Senators from New York, as well as celebrities from Lady Gaga to Cynthia Nixon, lobbied wavering legislators.

Finally, on June 24, 2011, after a tense week of negotiations over religious exemptions and uncertainty as to whether the Republican majority in the Senate would even allow a vote, the bill was brought to the Senate floor and approved by a tally of 33 in favor to 29 opposed. The majority vote included all but one of the Democrats plus four Republicans.

The victory was widely seen as attributable to the strong and decisive leadership of Governor Cuomo and to the effectiveness of the campaign strategy he and the gay rights groups had devised in March.

Governor Cuomo signed the bill the very night it was passed. It went into effect on July 24, 2011.

New York thus becane the sixth, and by far the largest, state to permit same-sex marriage. It was hoped that the victory in New York would build momentum for victories in other states.