Tide turning in favor of equality?

I'm delighted, of course, that the Massachusetts anti-gay marriage amendment didn't make it to the ballot, and that some day I might be able to be legally married there--it's a state I loved since spending a summer studying at Tanglewood almost 30 years ago. And New York is getting in on the act as well, or at least moving towards it. The State Assembly passed a pro-gay marriage bill yesterday after an emotional debate. The bill is being blocked in the Senate by its majority later, but sooner or later it, or a similar bill, will get through. Nothing is as powerful as an idea who's time has come, Victor Hugo pointed out long ago.

Andrew Sullivan puts it well:

The reason the civil rights movement for gay equality under the law has been so successful so swiftly is because gay people have an army of allies: our families. Among the most powerful advocates in particular are relatively conservative families of gay people.