For one Washington state lawmaker, the question of whether to approve a marriage equality bill boiled down to a devastatingly honest answer — one accompanied with touching humor so rarely seen in politics.

Following the Senate, the Washington House voted 55-43 today to approve marriage equality and send the bill to the governor, who has said she will sign it.

Under Iowa governor Terry Branstad, the state department of public health will appeal a county court ruling that granted a lesbian couple the right to put their names as their daughter’s legal parents on her birth certificate.

A federal appeals court Tuesday struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage, clearing the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on gay marriage as early as next year.

Nearly three years after Kristin Perry, Sandra Stier, Paul Katami, and Jeff Zarrillo sued California state officials after they were denied marriage licenses, a three-judge panel with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will rule Tuesday on whether Proposition 8 violated the U.S. Constitution by stripping gay Californians of the right to marry.

The Washington legislature is poised to send a marriage equality bill this week to the desk of Gov. Chris Gregoire, who has vowed to sign it.