Late last night the Washington State Senate voted in support of House Bill 2516, making it that much more likely that Washington will become the seventh state in the U.S. to legalize gay and lesbian marriage.

Supporters of the bill had expected the vote to be neck and neck, but in the end it passed with bipartisan support and a strong majority of 28-21 after less than 90 minutes of debate.

The bill will now move to the House, where it could be voted on as soon as next week and already has strong support. Afterwards the bill will be brought to the State's governor, Christine Gregoire who has already voiced her support for homosexual rights and proposed the bill herself. Washington would then join a slowly expanding club of states made up of Massachusettes, Connecticut, new Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa and New York.

Supporters of the bill took to twitter in support and late in celebration, rallying around the hastag #WA4M, which most likely stands for Washington for Marriage. Washington based blogger, journalist and community organizer Joe Mirabella live tweeted the state senate vote, writing at one point soon before the voting took place There are so many private moments of joy happened around me. It is overwhleming.

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