Politico and George Washington University just released a poll showing that 40 percent of Americans favor gay marriage. The same poll also says that 30 percent support civil unions but not gay marriage, and 24 percent oppose any kind of legal recognition of gay unions.

The news is just breaking that the Supreme Court has decided to take up two gay marriage cases: the legal challenge to California’s Proposition 8 and a review of the Defense of Marriage Act. They will render a decision on this by June 2013, and the result could be every bit as momentous as Roe v. Wade was in 1973. That means that in less than a year laws banning gay marriage could be overturned in every state of the union. Or maybe not. It’s all in the balance now. Here’s the report from the Associated Press:

California has passed a law making “gay conversion therapy” illegal for persons under 18 years old. Two judges have ruled on the law this week, and they have come to opposite conclusions. Where do things stand now? A religious liberty organization called Liberty Counsel is filing an emergency appeal to stop the law before it goes into effect on January 1, 2013. Joe Carter has the rest of the story on this case, and I encourage you to read it. I want to highlight here Carter’s remarks about why the case is important. He writes:

The Los Angeles Times reports that we should find out this week whether or not the Supreme Court will rule on gay marriage. Earlier this year, a lower court overturned “Proposition 8,” California’s ban on gay marriage. Traditional marriage supporters have appealed that decision, and the Supreme Court must decide whether or not to hear their appeal.

The Associated Press reports that the number of abortions is down 5% nationwide. This good news is somewhat mitigated by the fact that there are still about 1 million abortions performed every year in the United States. We can be thankful for the small decrease in the number of abortions, but make no mistake. An incalculable human slaughter continues. The report is quick to credit birth control use as a primary reason for the decrease in abortions, not the passage of recent laws restricting abortions. There’s no statistical evidence in the report to support this claim. Nevertheless, the author clearly suggests that laws restricting abortion are ineffective. This is a…

If you thought gay marriage activists would be resting on their laurels, think again. Politico reports: Gay activists are preparing to quickly use the momentum from this year’s election to try to legalize marriage in at least seven new states and force Congress and the president to make major changes in discrimination laws.