Hot on the heels of marriage equality victories in Rhode Island and Delaware, state lawmakers in Minnesota are also moving this week to legalize marriage for same-sex couples, according to the Minneapolis StarTribune.

Marriage legislation introduced by openly lesbian state Rep. Karen Clark will get a vote on the House floor this Thursday.  In the Senate, where openly gay state Sen. Scott Dibble is the lead sponsor, the bill could be voted on sometime this weekend.

Officials with Minnesotans United for All Families, the advocacy group working to pass the legislation, say they’re still having conversations with wavering legislators, but so far no Republicans have indicated they will vote “yes,” according to the Pioneer-Press.

The push to allow same-sex couples to marry in Minnesota comes just a few months after voters rejected an effort to add a ban on marriage equality to the state constitution.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn told the Windy City Times this week that he’s working with openly gay state Rep. Greg Harris, the sponsor of a pending marriage equality bill, to secure enough votes for the measure’s passage in the coming month.

“We’ve been talking to house members of both parties, really dozens of them. I’m really optimistic we’re within striking distance. Hopefully between now and the 31st of May, Greg Harris, our sponsor, will find a moment to call the bill for a roll call,” Quinn said.

The Illinois House has until the end of the legislative session to pass the bill, which has already won approval in the state Senate.  ”We’ve come a long distance. We’ve traveled over a very high mountain. But when you come down to the last stretch in the race, we’ve got to sprint. We cannot jog. In other words, what we have to do in these next few days and weeks is redouble our efforts because we don’t want any legislators at the last minute deciding not to vote yes,” Quinn told the Windy City Times.

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund today congratulated the four openly gay and lesbian Rhode Island state legislators whose efforts helped secure marriage equality for same-sex couples.

House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, Rep. Frank Ferri, Rep. Deb Ruggiero and Sen. Donna Nesselbush became the face and voice of thousands of LGBT Rhode Islanders in same-sex relationships who have long sought equality under law, speaking out in favor of legislation that received final approval today in the state Senate.  The House, which already gave overwhelming approval to another version of the bill, is expected to approve the Senate-passed legislation next week, and Gov. Lincoln Chafee has vowed to sign it into law.

“We are grateful to Rhode Island’s gay and lesbian legislators for standing up for themselves, for their partners, for their families and for every young person across the state who dreams of one day marrying the person they love,” said Victory Fund president and CEO Chuck Wolfe.  “They spoke passionately and authentically about the personal impact of this struggle, and that has made a tremendous difference.  Today is a day to celebrate their hard work, and that of their colleagues and all the groups in the Rhode Islanders United for Marriage coalition who made this day possible.”

Openly LGBT lawmakers, working alongside local, state and national LGBT organizations, have also seen success in recent legislative pushes for marriage equality in New York, Maryland and Washington state.  Currently, 109 openly gay, lesbian and bisexual state legislators are serving in 37 U.S. states.

“We’re working to make sure every single state legislature in America has the benefit of at least one openly LGBT lawmaker who can speak for our community,” said Wolfe, “but when we can build up a caucus of four, five, six or more, it makes it far more likely that state legislatures will begin to see LGBT Americans as worthy of the right to pursue happiness.”

Go here to sign Victory Fund’s online card thanking the four out members of the Rhode Island legislature.

A measure that would allow Nevada voters to reverse a state ban on recognizing same-sex marriages passed 12-9 in the Nevada Senate last night.  The legislation now heads to the state House.  It will need to be ratified once again in the next legislative session before the question appears on a statewide ballot.

The debate in the Nevada Senate turned personal when Sen. Kelvin Atkinson told his colleagues he is gay, according to a report in the Las Vegas Sun:

“I’m black. I’m gay,” Atkinson said in a trembling voice after describing his father’s interracial re-marriage that would have been banned earlier in American history. “I know this is the first time many of you have heard me say that I am a black, gay male.”

Atkinson went on to rebut the argument that gay marriage threatens any other definition of marriage. “If this hurts your marriage, then your marriage was in trouble in the first place,” he said.

Atkinson’s coming out brings to five the total number of out state lawmakers in Nevada.

After Iowa State Senator Dennis Guth made false and offensive statements about LGBT Americans, openly gay State Senator Matt McCoy has this to say:

While someone cannot choose to be gay, you can certainly choose not to be ignorant. And what I heard today was ignorant.

I am not gay by choice, but I choose not to be ignorant.

Watch Senator Matt McCoy set the record straight: