I've always been proud that my home state of Massachusetts was the first to grant full marriage rights to all of its citizens. As far as I can tell, none of the conservative predictions about gay marriage's profoundly deleterious impact have come to pass since the first same-sex couple tied the knot in 2003 (then again, I haven't spent much time at home the past few years -- for all I know packs of gays are roaming the streets, destroying every hetero marriage they can find).

But all is not well in this bluest of states. There is an impending legislative showdown over the future of marriage equality. From the Globe:

At stake is the fate of same-sex marriage in the only state where it is legal. The voter-initiated constitutional amendment, which would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, must win the support of at least 50 of the state's 200 lawmakers in two consecutive legislative sessions to win a place on the 2008 ballot. The measure won its first round of approval, with 62 votes, in January, at the tail end of the last legislative session. Through turnover and resignations, support dwindled to just 57 votes by this spring, even before the intense lobbying began.

A defeat for the amendment would deliver a major blow to social conservatives seeking to overturn the Supreme Judicial Court's 2003 ruling legalizing same-sex unions. A victory for the ban is unlikely today, with political leaders saying they will delay a vote until later this session if they do not believe they have the votes to defeat the amendment. The measure will die if no vote is taken by the end of the 2007-2008 legislative session.

According to the article, there are many opponents of the amendment in the state's government. House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, Senate President Therese Murray, and Governor Deval Patrick -- who gets many points for marching in Boston's gay pride parade (surprisingly, former governor Mitt Romney never did so -- guess he was busy) -- are "all strong supporters of gay marriage, [and] were within one or two votes of blocking the proposal from reaching the 2008 ballot."