Minnesota state House Speaker Paul Thissen had early doubts there were enough votes for a marriage bill.

'I wasn't particularly confident at all that we could get there. I mean I wasn't un-confident, but I just didn't know.'

When the chairman of the state's Republican Party stepped up and spoke out in favor of marriage equality in early January, LGBT advocates were pleasantly surprised.

But some members of Pat Brady's own party were livid and demanded that he step down from his post.

Brady had steadfastly refused - until this week.

He submitted his resignation on Tuesday (7 May). effective immediately.

The Log Cabin Republicans, gay members of a political party that has been decidedly anti-gay in its position on marriage equality, took out an attention-getting ad Thursday (25 April) urging the party to change its ways.

The full-page ad in Politico states: 'Reagan’s Big Tent Isn’t What it Used to Be…'

Senator Rob Portman's approval numbers have declined since declaring his backing of same sex marriage.

Conservatives failed in their most recent attempt to oust Illinois’ Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady.

Although public opinion is shifting on the issue, former US Senator Rick Santorum insists it would be 'suicidal' for the Republican party to embrace gay marriage.

Santorum, who finished second to Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination last year, remains steadfastly against marriage equality and thinks others in his party should remain so too.

Georgia GOP Chairwoman Sue Everhart's suggestion that gay marriage will lead to straight people teaming up to commit marriage fraud was ridiculed by comedian Jimmy Kimmel on his late night show Tuesday (2 April).

'From as straight guy's perspective, marrying another guy is a lot to go through for free dental,' Kimmel joked.

Georgia GOP Chairwoman Sue Everhart called gay marriage unnatural, said it could influence kids to be gay, and claimed it will lead straight people to pretend to be gay in order to commit fraud.

Everhart acknowledged to The Marietta Daily Journal that 'Lord, I’m going to get in trouble over this,' and went on to say: 'It is not natural for two women or two men to be married. If it was natural, they would have the equipment to have a sexual relationship.'

US right wing politican and lawyer Mat Staver warned live on radio that gay marriage will destroy America, split the Republican party, labelling some of its leaders who support marriage equality as 'cockroaches'.

Staver who is the chair of the Liberty Counsel organization spoke yesterday (28 March) to Vic Eliason of Voice of Christian Youth America on Crosstalk, where the two agreed that legalizing gay marriage ‘would be the same as pronouncing the death sentence on America’.

Support for gay marriage in the US has risen to 58%, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll of 1,001 adults.

The poll results, released Monday (18 March), show support for marriage equality is at an all-time high.

There are still 36% of respondents who believe it should be illegal.

The results are a reverse of just a decade ago when the same poll showed only 37% in favor while 55% were opposed.

Republican Senator Rob Portman's recent reversal on same sex marriage continues to reverberate in the GOP.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich continues to be against marriage equality, but isn't running away from Portman's new position.

A leading Republican aligned thinker has backed same-sex marriage in a surprise move at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) being held near Washington DC.

American Enterprise Institute political scientist Charles Murray told the conference that the Republican Party had to embrace issues like same-sex marriage and abortion rights if it wanted to return to government.