Someday, the civil rights movement will look back on Gavin Newsom as a hero. His one small action, giving equal rights to all citizens, has started a landslide. Seeing people say this sort of thing:
In Washington, D.C., lawmakers debated same-sex marriages, with Republican senators such as Majority Leader Bill Frist asking Congress to embrace a constitutional amendment banning them.
means that the movement must be gaining ground. There would not be such panic if it were not a viable threat.