Here we are at the end of 2012, and after a year of amazing progress we’re closer than ever to full federal marriage equality. Think about where we were a year ago with Prop 8, with DOMA, with marriage laws from state to state. So much has happened since then. So let’s do a quick year-in-review to get you caught up with the progress we made in 2012, and where we’re going to focus in 2013, including which states are the most likely to make headlines in the coming year.

Two top White House leaders have come out in support of marriage for gay and lesbian Americans. This Sunday on Meet the Press, Vice President Joe Biden said he supports marriage rights for gay and lesbian Americans. Then, this morning, Education Secretary expressed his support on MSBC’s Morning Joe.

AFER Board President Chad Griffin said that he hopes the Vice President’s comments will encourage other leaders to lend their support as well :

“I’m grateful that the vice president of the United States is now publically supporting marriage equality and I hope very soon the president and the rest of our leaders, Republicans and Democrats in Congress, will fall in line with the vice president.”

Photo by Obama for America on Flickr