Whatever happened to libertarian Nevada?

And you thought Nevada was a pioneer state.

We made our bones as the country's only home to legal gambling, but now casinos are everywhere and gambling is legal in nearly every single state. Even boring places have Las Vegas-style action now, which can't help but rob us of at least some business.

We started the whole quickie divorce thing, with a six-week residency requirement to get un-hitched. Now divorce is simple in most states.

Nevada is still the only place left in America, however, where you can still find that vestige of the Old West - legal prostitution.

In short, Nevada has lost its mojo. We're no longer on the cutting edge of libertarian social trends. Now we're watching other states pull ahead.

On Election Day, the voters in the great states of Maine, Maryland and Washington elected to legalize gay marriage, the first time same-sex unions were authorized by a vote of the people in the long struggle on the issue. That brings to nine the number of states where gay marriage is legal, plus the District of Columbia.

In Nevada? Gay marriage is illegal under a voter-approved constitutional amendment, although domestic partnerships are recognized by the state, and a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the constitutional provision is pending.

Not only that, but state Sen. Tick Segerblom has said he'll bring a bill to start repealing the constitutional ban on gay marriage before the 2013 Legislature. And if it comes to a vote, one of the Nevadans supporting it will be U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who declared in May he was now in favor of legal gay marriage.

But court cases and constitutional amendments take time; while we could be marketing Las Vegas as the national destination for gay marriage (and reaping the financial benefits thereof), other states will be eating our lunch. (Of course, this is the most crass reason to legalize gay marriage. That fact that all citizens should be treated equally under the law - the primary reason to recognize marriage equality - is assumed herein.)

But wait, there's more.

Voters in the great states of Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana for recreational use on the November ballot, too. (An attempt to do so in Oregon fell short.) The votes only change state law; marijuana is still illegal under federal law, which incomprehensibly lists it alongside such powerful drugs as MDMA, GHB, heroin and mescaline on a schedule of substances alleged to have no medical value. This despite the fact that medical marijuana is recognized in 18 states, the most recent of which is Massachusetts, which took the leap this year.

Nevada lags behind in both recreational marijuana and medical marijuana. Possession of more than one ounce of the drug here (except for authorized medical patients) remains a felony. But even those authorized to use medical marijuana cannot legally buy the drug. The law says they may grow it, but patients still must commit a crime to buy the seeds.

Once again, a court case is pending: now-retired District Judge Donald Mosley ruled the state's current medical marijuana scheme unconstitutional. And once again, the reliable Segerblom pledges to bring a bill allowing for legal medical marijuana dispensaries. But those steps are pale substitutes for the actions in Colorado and Washington.

Social conservatives may lament Nevada's libertine history, but libertarian conservatives and liberals point out that taxes and fees from legal gay marriage and recreational marijuana would boost state revenues without the need for a tax increase.

There was a time when Nevada would have led on these issues, challenging the hypocrisy of the rest of the nation with a wide-open embrace of unconventional ideas. But that time seems to have passed, and we're the poorer for it.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at (702) 387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.