Get ready for battles all over the country this year, as the fight over gay marriage heats up in New England, and some legal wrangling could put Prop 8 back up for a vote in 2012.

It's been a super-busy week for marriage equality news.

The big news this week was in California, where a piece of the lawsuit against Prop 8 got bumped from one court to another. Now this is a big deal, but it is also extremely boring.

Legal eagles will want to follow along, but it's so technical that all you really need to know is that the Ninth Circuit wants the state Supreme Court's opinion on how to proceed. That means new delays, possibly for months or even more than a year.

So if 2012 rolls around and we still aren't close to having this case resolved, we might wind up having Prop 8 on the ballot.

That would be risky and expensive. But the lawsuit is risky too, and public opinion has moved since 2008. Would a Prop 8 vote be a good idea or a disaster? It's hard to say for sure. Share your thoughts in the comments, and let us know what you think.

One of our biggest disadvantages in an election would be that the opposition has kept their Prop 8 campaign structure in place. And that structure dates back even further than Prop 8. It's a continuation of a campaign in 2000, which was itself a continuation of campaigns dating all the way back to the 1980s, when the Mormon Church first got involved with fighting marriage equality in Hawaii.

So that means that if we take it to voters in 2012, we'll be at a significant strategic disadvantage.

I spoke to Equality California's Managing Director, Jim Carroll, last month, and he said that a Prop 8 repeal wasn't on their radar.

But marriage equality is very much on the radar in New England.

In Rhode Island, legislators have introduced a bill that would extend marriage -- full marriage -- to gay couples. The usual suspects are opposed.

In New Hampshire, the opposite has happened: legislators are threatening to introduce legislation that would rescind full marriage from gay couples.

These changes are possible because of the election. Rhode Island gained a new pro-LGBT Governor, and New Hampshire got a bunch of anti-gay legislators.

It's too early to tell how successful these measures will be. But the loss of marriage equality in New Hampshire would be a very big deal.

And that brings us to this week's Action Item. You need to spread the word about what's coming up in New England. If you know anyone back east -- friends, family, coworkers -- let 'em know that these fights are on the horizon. We may need them to contact their legislators, and even to go testify about why marriage equality is so important. So we need to get on Facebook and put this on every New Englander's radar now.

Courage Campaign is planning a series of workshops in New England, modeled on their successful Camp Courage events here in California. So keep an eye out for those soon.

In the mean time, hit "Like" on Facebook, over at Facebook.com/stop8.

Just a few clicks is all it takes to pass the word along.