Same-sex marriage proposals are sweeping into New England state legislatures this spring, particularly in places where organized religious opposition may be the weakest.

A USA Today analysis finds that states where the percentage of "nones" — people who say they have no religion — is at or above the national average of 15 percent are more likely to push expanding the scope of marriage, civil unions or same-sex partner rights.

In New Hampshire, where nones are 29 percent of the population, nearly matching Catholics (32 percent) and Protestants (30 percent), the House of Representatives was expected to vote to legalize same-sex marriage yesterday, and "it has a good chance of passing the Senate this week," said Marty Rouse of the Human Rights Campaign.

Tomorrow in Vermont, a gay marriage bill that has passed the Senate goes to the House. Vermont has the highest rate of nones in the nation (34 percent), according to the newly released American Religious Identification Survey.

Coming up: Legislatures in Rhode Island (nones 19 percent) and Maine (nones 25 percent) will hold hearings this spring on marriage "equality" bills. In nearby New York (nones 14 percent), the Legislature could approve a bill "by the Fourth of July," Rouse said.

The religious identification survey's findings work in reverse, as well. The states with the highest rates of identification with conservative denominations were more likely to be among the 30 states where voters have approved constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.

Barry Kosmin, Trinity College sociologist and co-director of the survey, said the correlation is no coincidence.

"Given that 25 percent of GenX (those ages 29 to 42) and GenY (ages 18 to 28) are nones, this is where we are headed," he said. "It's a standoff between young people with a tremendous sympathy for civil rights and what appears to be biblical injunctions from religion."