It's been a while! I've been pretty busy and haven't had that much to write about but this week sees a major step forward in the fight for equal marriage, in one week both Sweden and Iowa have got same-sex marriage. Sweden would hardly be a shock but I must admit Iowa was a surprise - and no doubt disconcerting to reactionaries in the US, after all if the heartland states are falling...

No doubt there will be a fight to keep it, but a ballot initiative will be two years away by which time the change will be bedded down, plus activists will have learned a string of lessons as a result of Prop 8 in California, so here’s hoping.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in Vermont as the Bill for equal marriage winds its way through their Legislature. Also keep an eye on New York, the Bill for equal marriage passed the lower house of the legislature before the election but was held up in the Senate by two hostile Republicans, both of whom lost their seats last November. For the first time in over 40 years the Democrats control both houses of the state Legislature in New York and the Governor has said he’s in favour of the Bill. This is New York after all. If Vermont and New York are won it will be a major setback for the forces of reaction, coming as it does on the heals of the tsunami that washed over them and swept Obama into office last year and of course the financial crisis.

It’s a pretty good time to be alive if you’re a lefty.