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The American government is in no position to dictate any institution with a religious connotation. Either it should allow civil unions for all and leave marriage to churches (for hetero and gay couples alike), or it should allow marriage for everybody and acknowledge that marriage is secular in nature (do atheists not get married?).
To answer the OP's question, I'm going to go with Minnesota.
Virginia's color may have changed on CNN's election map last year, but it's still the same ol' Virginny, and it's far from being all that socially "progressive." Virginians voted to enact a constitutional ban on same sex marriage AND same sex civil unions of any kind just a few years ago.
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the South at this time. That said, NC is the only state in the Southeast that doesn't have a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Gay Marriage only comes to the South through court order from the U.S. Supreme Court. It's possible that NC's courts could rule in favor of gay marriage at some time in the future but I am pretty certain that it would immediately be followed by its own marriage amendment.
Next Gay friendly state may be New York or Rhode Island. Florida...never...almost two thirds(62%) just voted against the gay people...WE're moving when the market improves...not gonna stay where I am not wanted. Gay people need to vote with their feet.
The Supreme Court will eventually have to get involved...it's a civil rights matter and is being corrected in some states, but there are others that will never do the right thing. So...sooner or later it will be up to the federal government to override those states.
I wouldn't be surprised if one day, DOMA(Defense of Marriage Act) was repealed by future legislation that reverses the effects of this law. Unfortunately, I doubt DOMA will be repealed anytime soon, and probably will very likely not happen during Obama's first term. However, I wouldn't be surprised if one or more gay-friendly Congressmen made an attempt to end DOMA during Obama's first term, and it'd be interesting to see how far they would get in such an attempt.
Is Pennsylvania a safe place for people in a Civil Union to live? My partner and I are thinking of moving there but we have no idea if it is "gay friendly". Anyone have any ideas or experiences there?
I live in Philadelphia, and I would say yes to Philadelphia as well as Pittsburgh. A definitive edge going to Philadelphia. Philly has a long history of being gay friendly. The city annually warmly welcomes/hosts the Equality Forum if that's any kind of indication. The rest of the state is pretty sketchy in terms of tolerance.
I am not sure I would put the gay rights movement next to the civil rights movement of the 60's., I have yet to see a school who has gays seperated from straights, jobs that aren't allowed to them or anything else besides marriage that even remotely mirrors what happened in the black community.
How do you overturn something that the citizens have voted on? Isn't that the point of voting?
Laws affecting the rights of a minority group should never be put to a popular vote.
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