Wyoming is moving even further away from its ‘Equality State’ slogan, having just advanced another anti-marriage initiative through the Senate. Meanwhile, Maryland is pushing forward same-sex marriage legislation with substantial public support. All that and more in today’s State Marriage Watch:

- WYOMING: The AP is reporting that the Wyoming Senate has passed a bill that would allow voters to decide whether the state should recognize same-sex marriages. The Senate voted 21-7 on Tuesday in favor of a resolution, which will face “two more votes in the Senate before it can advance to the House for debate.” Yesterday, the Wyoming House passed House Bill 74 — banning the state from recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere — by a vote of 32-27. That measure is now also in the Senate.

- HAWAII: The Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 232, civil unions legislation that is identical to the measure vetoed last year by former Governor Lisa Lingle, by a vote of 3-2 vote. “The bill now goes to the Senate floor for the second of three required votes by the full chamber.” A separate measure, SB 231, would accomplish the same goal, but includes various administrative clarifications. A House version of the civil unions bill has not yet been introduced, but may come as soon as tomorrow. Governor Neil Abercrombie (D) has said he will sign such legislation.

- MARYLAND: This morning, Equality Maryland and House Majority Leader Kumar Barve introduced the House version of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, a measure to expand marriage to gays and lesbians. A Senate version was introduced last week. Meanwhile, a new poll finds that “51 percent of voters say they would favor a law in Maryland allowing same-sex couples to marry, while 44 percent opposed such a law and 5 percent gave no response.” These results are significant since, anti-marriage activists have promised to place the question on the ballot if the bill becomes law.

- IOWA: A constitutional ban on gay marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships and any other legal recognition of same-sex couples “cleared the Iowa House Judiciary Committee Monday, setting the stage for a public hearing next week.” The Iowa Independent reports that 12 Republicans and 1 Democrat — state Rep. Kurt Swaim of Bloomfield — voted in favor of House Joint Resolution 6. Eight Democrats voted against it. The measure is expected to pass the House, where Republicans have a majority of 60-40, but will likely stall in the Senate, where Democrats are have a two-seat advantage (26-24).

- DC: The Hill reported today that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), has pledged to push for a vote that would ban gay marriage in the nation’s capital. Jordan had previously pledge to focus on economic issues.

For a complete overview of the latest developments in the marriage battleground states of Rhode Island, Maryland, New York, California, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Wyoming, Iowa, and New Mexico, click here.

President Obama will announce tonight that gay and lesbian servicemembers will be able to serve openly in the armed forces as soon as this year, suggesting that he will soon certify repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Under the measure Congress passed last year, the repeal does not go into effect until 60 days after the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Obama certify that it does not undermine military readiness or unit cohesion. From the speech, as published by the National Journal:

OBAMA: Our troops come from every corner of this country – they are black, white, Latino, Asian and Native American. They are Christian and Hindu, Jewish and Muslim. And, yes, we know that some of them are gay. Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love. And with that change, I call on all of our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and the ROTC. It is time to leave behind the divisive battles of the past. It is time to move forward as one nation.

Earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the Defense Department would begin implementing repeal of DADT “as quickly but as responsibly as possible,” describing implementation as a three-step process that involves changing regulations, prepare training materials, and training the servicemembers. Gates has tasked Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford Stanley to accelerate the first two phases of implementation and said the Pentagon was approaching the task with the philosophy of, it’s better to end the policy “sooner rather than later.”

Several Republicans, however, have introduced a measure in the House to delay implementation. That measure would require the heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines to sign off on allowing openly gay service members, even though the chiefs have previously suggested that such a measure would undermine the military’s chain of command.

Since the Supreme Court declined to hear their petition to challenge Washington D.C.’s 10-month-old same-sex marriage law, opponents of marriage equality are now going to try and challenge the ban in Congress, the Hill reports:

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), told The Hill that he will push for a vote on the controversial issue in the 112th Congress. The RSC has 175 members.

“I think RSC will push for it, and I’m certainly strongly for it. I don’t know if we’ve made a decision if I’ll do it or let another member do it, but I’m 100 percent for it,” Jordan said.

In the last Congress, Jordan was the lead sponsor on the D.C. Defense of Marriage Act. The bill was introduced after the D.C. City Council and then-Mayor Adrian Fenty indicated they would recognize same-sex marriages.

Jordan’s measure garnered 53 co-sponsors last year. But it is expected to attract more support in the GOP-led House in 2011.

The problem, as Adam Serwer notes, is that Jordan is from Ohio and that undermines conservative’s efforts to present their campaign as a local effort to give DC residents the right to vote on the issue and contradicts the Republican criticism against federal involvement in local affairs. But, the party is willing to swallow the hypocrisy to impose their prejudices on the District and take away gay people’s right to marry. Jordan himself had lobbied the Supreme Court to take up the marriage case and has said that he won’t be attending CPAC because of the presence of the gay GOP group GOProud.

D.C.’s marriage law was enacted in 2009, after the D.C. Council passed two measures to recognize marriages performed outside and inside the District. Both bills passed though a mandated congressional review period without challenge, even though several conservative Republicans “sponsored bills to ban same-sex marriages in the District or mandate a referendum.” Jordan’s measures will likely get a vote in the Republican-controlled House, but will be vetoed by Obama if it makes it through the Senate.