UPDATE: While H 4139 has not moved since it got to the Senate, there is some good news on another front: a short-term agreement has been reached in a lawsuit alleging that Massachusetts violated the National Voter Registration Act. 478,000 public assistance recipients will now receive voter registration forms. Should the state and plaintiffs fail to reach a long-term solution, litigation will resume on December 31, 2012.

An election modernization bill (H 4139) intended to "strengthen vote-counting and voter registration processes" has passed the Massachusetts House, in stark contrast with attacks on voting rights dominating the news in many other states.

Citizens of Massachusetts are fiercely lobbying their legislators, trying to swing their votes in favor/against a ballot measure allowing Massachusetts voters to decide whether or not gay marriage will survive in the Bay State.  

I've been getting emails from my friends in Holyoke (a wonderful city in Western Mass), who met with their local representative, Tim Kane, to ask him to vote against a ballot measure, and I write to you to say: I'm torn, friends. Help me out.

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Just a quick shout out to all the couples that married in Massachusetts three years ago today.  What a giant leap forward.

We should take a minute to thank our friends at MassEqualityfor their continued fight to defend equal marriage rights.