[caption id="attachment_100075" align="aligncenter" width="575"] Photo: Equality Delaware[/caption]

The Delaware senate just approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, making it the 11th state to extend the right to marry to gays and lesbian couples. Governor Jack Markell signed the the bill into the law, saying "I do not intend to make any of you wait one minute longer.”

State Senator Karen Peterson came out as a lesbian for the first time publicly during debate on the bill today, saying  "no one chose to be gay–we are what God made us. We don't need to be fixed. We aren't broken.”

Freedom to Marry's Marc Solomon said in a statement that the passing of this legislation "sends yet another message to the Supreme Court that it’s time for marriage for all Americans."

The First State follows Rhode Island, which legalized marriage equality last week, and Washington, Maryland and Maine, which passed voter referendums in November.

Up next: Illinois and Minnesota!