A shout-out once again to our marriage supporters in Wyoming (the "Equality State") -- yesterday your representatives in Cheyenne defeated a domestic partnership bill that could have threatened marriage by a vote of 35-24. Courts have used domestic partnerships and civil unions as an excuse to challenge laws protection marriage:

A bill that would have would have allowed same-sex couples in Wyoming to create domestic partnerships carrying most of the legal rights of marriage died Wednesday on a close vote in the House of Representatives.

... Opponents warned that the bill threatened to open the state to legal action seeking to force it to approve same-sex marriage.

Rep. Mark Baker, R-Rock Springs, spoke against the measure, saying: "We all know that this is about same-sex marriage and civil unions." (AP)

Rep. Lynn Hutchings made a particularly strong comment before she cast her vote:

... Rep. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, testified against the bill. She said she had received scurrilous emails, including some containing racial epithets, after testifying earlier in the week against the domestic partnership bill at a committee hearing. Hutchings, who is black, had called on gays and lesbians to "please stop carpet-bagging on our civil rights movement."