Gay activists are saying it's possible, even likely, that the issue is far enough along to have reached an unquantifiable inevitability now that same-sex marriage is legal in four states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Iowa). But last year's bitter loss in California (Proposition 8's approval on the November ballot outlawed same-sex marriage there, which had been legal since a state Supreme Court ruling in May) and the 29 state constitutional amendments restricting marriage to one man and one woman make it clear gay activists are far from home free.