For those on the liberal side of the political fence, Arizona is having a banner month. First, Governor Jan Brewer pulled off a surprise move, strong-arming the state legislature into doing her will and expanding Medicaid in the state. Then the federal judge who found that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio used racial profiling in his department’s traffic stops and ordered him to stop, pretty flatly stated last week that he’s going to order a monitor to oversee the sheriff’s office and guarantee compliance.

On Monday, two more amazing developments occurred almost back to back. In the morning, the Supreme Court ruled that Arizona can’t require proof of citizenship to register voters if the prospective voter uses a federal registration form. And in the afternoon, a nonpartisan group filed the necessary paperwork to put an initiative on the 2014 ballot defining marriage as “a union of two persons.” Arizona’s current definition of “one man and one woman” was established by referendum in 2008.

If liberals are disoriented by these rapid, but welcome, developments, conservatives must be absolutely reeling. One precious right-wing tenet after another is being shot down.

The group working to put marriage equality on the ballot is called Equal Marriage Arizona, headed by libertarian businessman, Warren Meyer, and the chairperson of the Arizona Log Cabin Republicans, Erin Ogletree. They are looking for a third co-chair so that they can add a Democrat to their numbers.

The move to file was in anticipation of a Supreme Court decision that’s due to be issued this month. The ruling will be on the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8–the successful referendum banning same-sex marriage. Court watchers are expecting the justices to maintain that the definition of marriage is up to individual states, in which case both California and Arizona would continue to ban marriage equality. If that is indeed the outcome, Marriage Equality Arizona will have until July 3, 2014 to collect 259,213 signatures.

Co-chair Meyer told AZ Central:

I think the attitudes of people in this state have changed a lot. We believe Arizonans are ready for equal marriage.

The rest of the country may greet that assertion with skepticism, but he’s not just blowing smoke. A statewide poll conducted by the Behavior Research Center last month showed that 55 percent of adult heads of household favor marriage equality. Arizona is actually showing some of the same signs of rapid progress on this issue as other states.

The way has been partly paved by tiny Bisbee, Arizona. Bisbee, an artists’ colony and former mining town in the southern part of the state, passed an ordinance in April legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples within city boundaries. The state of Arizona, via Attorney General Tom Horne, threatened to sue. But Bisbee stood its ground, agreeing only to make minor adjustments to the language in one line. Arizona backed off and, in late May, the Bisbee city council approved the new version of the ordinance. Several other cities are considering following suit.

These efforts may be a moot point come November, 2014. Organizers Meyer and Ogletree aren’t taking any chances with the initiative. As soon as the Supreme Court decision is handed down–assuming the justices don’t validate marriage equality nationwide–volunteers and paid petitioners will set about gathering 400,000 signatures. That’s a wide enough margin to virtually guarantee the issue will be on the ballot–and to give Arizona a chance to show that it really is made of the right stuff. Really.