A gay marriage bill that's up for a crucial vote Thursday in New Jersey has the backing of 'The Boss'.

Paul Steinhauser
CNN Deputy Political Director

A gay marriage bill that's up for a crucial vote Thursday in New Jersey has the backing of "the Boss."

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen say he supports the legislation, which would legalize same sex marriages in the Garden State. On his Web site, the New Jersey born Springsteen says he's "always spoken out for the rights of same-sex couples," adding that he urges "those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now."

The New Jersey state Senate is expected to vote on the bill Thursday. It passed through the state Senate's Judiciary Committee earlier this week by one vote. Democrats concede the measure may fall short of the 21 votes needed to pass the state Senate. The state Assembly hasn't considered the bill yet.

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Supporters of the law had hoped Maine would become the first state to approve same-sex marriage with a popular vote.

LZ Granderson
Special to CNN

I'm a single father of a 12-year-old boy who every five minutes seem to switch personalities on me.

One moment he's a starving student athlete hungry enough to eat a cow, the next he's a picky vegan.

I'm told by people much smarter than me that this is normal for a child going through puberty. And so, while I am not an overly religious man, I have found myself meditating on I Corinthians 13:4 to help me get through. Love is patient, love is kind.

I believe there is something each of us can pull from that Bible verse. We may not agree on spirituality or the existence of God, but we can agree that love is one of the most beautiful and mysterious forces. When I'm frustrated with my son, or a friend or even myself, I try to think about the characteristics of love described in I Corinthians before reacting. Be patient. Be kind.

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Program Note: Tune in tonight for Randi Kaye's report on Maine's Question 1 ballot issue. AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

AC360°

In Maine today, voters will decide whether or not to repeal a state law that would allow same-sex couples to marry. Both sides are expecting a razor thin margin of victory and early polling shows it’s too close to call. People from all over the country are watching out for the results, and donating money to try to influence it.

Eighty-three percent of the money for the campaign against same-sex marriage has come from the Roman Catholic Church and the Mormon-backed National Organization for Marriage. Supporters of same-sex marriage are ahead in contributions, with a great deal of support coming from individual donors in California, where activists hope to overturn Proposition 8.

The momentum is building on Twitter today. #Maine is one of the top 10 topics trending on Twitter.

Check out the Twitter traffic related to this topic here and let us know what you think!

Four states - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Iowa - currently allow same-sex marriages.

National Conference of Senate Legislators

State Legislatures and courts have struggled with the issue of same sex relationships for more than ten years now. Click here to view the timeline that covers recent events beginning with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in November 2003 that held rules and laws barring same sex marriages to be unconstitutional.

Joneil Adriano
AC360° Producer

On Tuesday, the eyes of the nation will be watching California, during what is being billed as the "Day of Decision" by marriage equality activists all across the land. Why? Because the California Supreme Court is expected to issue its highly anticipated ruling on whether or not Proposition 8, the controversial ballot initiative which amended the state constitution to ban gay marriage, should be upheld or invalidated.

After the oral arguments in March, many court watchers predicted that the Supreme Court would respect the will of the voters and allow Prop. 8 to stand. If that is indeed the case, those who support same-sex marriage will hold protests across the country. If the justices surprise everyone by overturning it, those protests will become celebrations.

For those on both sides of the issue, the stakes are high. For one thing, there are an estimated 20,000 gay couples who are, for now, legally married in the state. Will the court allow those marriages to continue, or will they be forcibly annulled?

Also, California is the biggest state in the union in terms of population. Whichever side wins tomorrow will claim a big victory - and momentum.

But taking a step back for a moment, it does seem as if the train has already left the station. Since the California court took up this issue, three other states have begun granting same-sex couples the right to marry: Iowa, Vermont, and Maine. New Hampshire, New York, and New Jersey are poised to follow.

The Golden State has had a reputation for being a trend setter on policy matters over the years, but on this issue, at least, it seems lagging. Northeastern states are the ones driving the agenda now.

In deed, a new front has already been opened up in Massachusetts, which started performing the first same-sex marriages five years ago. There, a lawsuit filed on behalf of 19 gays and lesbians - including the widower of Gerry Studds, the first openly gay Congressman - challenges provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act that prohibit the federal government from recognizing lesbian and gay couples.

This lawsuit alleges that the law discriminates against married lesbian and gay couples by denying them rights like Social Security spousal benefits, family medical leave, and the ability to file taxes jointly.

No doubt challenges to another DOMA provision - that which allows states to deny recognition to legally performed same-sex marriages in other states - are in the works. President Obama has said he would like to see DOMA repealed.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to underplay the importance of a California victory for supporters of marriage equality. They want it just as badly as their opponents.

But these days, it does seem that proponents of traditional marriage are the ones who need it more. For more than a decade, they have marched across the country easily passing one same-sex marriage ban after another. But that movement seems to have now stalled, and marriage equality activists are the ones on the offensive.

Vermont's House and Senate voted Tuesday to override the governor's veto of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state.

The action makes Vermont the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriages. The others are Massachusetts, Connecticut and, as of last week, Iowa.

And yesterday, the Washington D.C. City Council voted 12-0 Tuesday in favor of allowing same-sex marriages performed in other states to be recognized in the nation's capital.

Is same-sex marriage gaining momentum? What are your questions about it? Text us your questions tonight to CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Text AC and your name, location and question to 94553!

Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear the latest news about the Proposition 8 in CA. on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

CNN

The California Supreme Court began hearing arguments Thursday in a case that could determine the fate of same-sex marriage in the state, as well as the validity of about 18,000 same-sex marriages.

The court is tackling the constitutionality of Proposition 8, a measure banning same-sex marriage that voters approved in November.

Its opponents are seeking to have the amendment nullified. They maintain Proposition 8 alters the state constitution and therefore, under state law, is a revision that requires a constitutional convention.

The state Supreme Court ruled in May that the California Constitution allows same-sex couples to marry.

Arguments on Thursday took place in a packed courtroom. Because of heavy interest in the hearing, officials installed big-screen televisions to accommodate onlookers in the court auditorium, which seats about 200.

More than 60 friend-of-the-court briefs have been filed in the case, a court spokeswoman said.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in San Francisco's Castro District on Wednesday night to push for the court to reinstate same-sex marriage in California.

Statement from Ellen DeGeneres
Host, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show"

Watching the returns on election night was an amazing experience. Barack Obama is our new president. Change is here.  I, like millions of Americans, felt like we had taken a giant step towards equality.  We were watching history.

This morning, when it was clear that Proposition 8 had passed in California, I can’t explain the feeling I had.  I was saddened beyond belief.  Here we just had a giant step towards equality and then on the very next day, we took a giant step away.

I believe one day a “ban on gay marriage” will sound totally ridiculous.  In the meantime, I will continue to speak out for equality for all of us.

Matt Coles
ACLU Director of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project

After the California Supreme Court’s brilliant, inspiring decision in May, Tuesday's loss at the polls is a bitter pill. That it follows all the wonderful stories of people getting married, and the Connecticut decision that seemed to put us on a roll, makes it all the more difficult to accept.

But indulge me for a look back in history. In 1982, we passed a domestic partnership law in San Francisco, the country’s first. Despite having carefully laid the groundwork, it was vetoed without warning, and a vote essential to an override defected the next day. It took us seven years to get it passed again. And when we did, our opponents got enough signatures to put it on the ballot in 30 days. We ran one of the most expensive local initiative elections in California history. And we lost, 50.5 to 49.5. In 1990, we put it back on the ballot again and won. But the next year, we had to defend it again against an attempted repeal initiative.

Even in famously liberal San Francisco, we had to go through the process of trying to pass a simple domestic partnership law five times, and we lost twice. If you run up an unbroken string of victories in any battle for civil rights, that simply means you waited too long to get to work. Change that matters is never smooth or easy.

It will be important to go over the campaign carefully and learn from our mistakes. But we need to resist the temptation to blame ourselves for the loss. The perfect campaign hasn’t been run anywhere yet. Thousands of very good people worked their hearts out on this, and they deserve our thanks. The victims of an injustice should never be blamed for failing to end it unless they don’t try. And you can’t say that we didn't try, and try damn hard.

We didn’t lose by much. Eight years ago, on virtually the same question, we could only get 39 percent. On Tuesday, we got over 48. While our opponents may be celebrating now, the handwriting is on the wall. They won’t be able to hold on much longer. There are other states where we’ll be able to get marriage in the next few years, and others where we’ll get domestic partnerships and civil unions.

We’ll be back in California. And we’ll win. You can depend on it.

Program Note: Sarah Palin’s former pastor describes how he expects her religious beliefs to influence her decision-making… Watch Rani Kaye's exclusive report 360° tonight 10 ET.

Randi Kaye | Bio
AC360° Correspondent

Since joining the Republican ticket, Sarah Palin hasn't said a peep about her religion so we decided to look into her beliefs for a piece on AC360 tonight.

She calls herself a Christian, but identified herself more specifically as a Pentecostal for most of her life. She had been a member of the Wasilla Assembly of God church from the time she was a young girl until 2002, when she left the church to join a non-denominational church that is more mainstream.

The McCain campaign has said Palin doesn't consider herself a Pentecostal.

Some Pentecostals speak in tongues, and believe in "faith healing" and "end times", a violent upheaval that will bring the second coming of Jesus and only believers will be saved.

We'll have an interview with Palin's pastor from the Assembly of God and let you know if Palin ever spoke in tongues.

Her former pastor says he has no doubt her religious beliefs are used in her decision-making when it comes to government policy. Regarding her desire to build an Alaskan pipeline, Pastor Tim McGraw told us, "Sarah knows that in Genesis, God creates the world and its very good and that we’re supposed to be caretakers in terms of not destroying the environment so there’s no way that Sarah is going to exploit or damage the Alaska tundra in the name of getting gas if she doesn’t have to."

Her campaign says she doesn't mix her faith with government business, but a video circulating on YouTube shows Palin speaking at Assembly of God and asking church members to pray for the $30 billion natural gas pipeline that she wants to build in Alaska. Here's what she said, "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas pipeline built so pray for that ...I can do my job there in developing my natural resources..But all of that doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart is not good with God."

She also talked to church members about "being saved" at the Assembly of God and suggested to them that the war in Iraq is a mission from God. Palin said, "our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we are praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

And remember those controversial comments by Barack Obama's pastor? Well, Palin's pastor has made his share too.

Senior Pastor Ed Kalnin, from Wasilla Assembly of God once said those who voted for John Kerry for president in 2004 would not go to heaven. The church has since said he was joking about those voters going to hell and has apologized. That same pastor also said that Alaska will be a refuge for the "end days"..that Alaska will serve as a shelter for Christians at the end of the world. Pastor Kalnin said "God is going to basically reserve (Alaska) for the place of refuge because the earth is groaning for the return of God. "

Do you think Palin's religious beliefs will affect policy if the Republicans win? She is anti-abortion even in the case of rape and incest, and she believes Creationism should be taught in schools. She is also opposed to gay marriage and spousal benefits for gay couples. And it just so happens her current church, Wasilla Bible Church, is promoting a conference to help turn gays straight through the power of prayer.

Do you think religion has a place in government?

You can read the entire California Supreme Court ruling here

Augie Martin
CNN Supervising Producer

The ruling by the California Supreme Court this morning was one of the most hotly anticipated rulings in recent memory. This ruling essentially brought to a close the debate over the legality of same-sex marriages in California. The battle all began in 2004 when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom surprised everyone by issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples in 2004. In the see-saw legal battles that followed, the issue seemed to polarize many, and it seemed no one was void of a view on the matter.

The crux of the issue is whether or not the State of California has the authority to legalize same sex marriage. The ruling today, following oral arguments in March 2008 in front of what is generally considered a conservative Supreme Court of California, was at first not quite as straight forward as the issue itself. The ruling began by stating essentially that the same-sex marriages conducted by the City and County of San Francisco were unlawful, but then went on to overturn the ban on same sex marriage in California. Essentially, past same-sex marriages we’re deemed unlawful, but could proceed going forward.

It would probably be fair to say that this ruling was met with a mild degree of surprise, if only because previous rulings seem to have generally gone against permitting same sex marriages in California.

With the legality question now settled, and opportunities to appeal exhausted, a few thoughts come to mind going forward.

Will the State of California once again serve as a bellwether for the rest of the nation? Certainly one would think not, at least in the most conservative parts of country. However, we’ve seen California in the past be an impetus for adoption in other states of its groundbreaking legislation, including on such topics as automobile emissions standards and medical marijuana.

Will this ruling now lead to a flood of same-sex marriages once again, as was the case in February 2004? One can only think that there are probably plenty of same sex couples who would like to have their annulled marriages once again made official.

Read more on this story...

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. But once again, for better or worse, San Francisco is in the limelight of the national focus.