A good day for gay rights, so far

[+ Charlie]

Who would have guessed that Spain, that traditionally most conservative Catholic country, would be the next country to legalize gay marriage and all the rights that go with it? And the California Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the domestic partnership law. The next thing you know, Alabama will start licensing male escorts.

[Bilbo]

And then the next day, like a hangover, comes O'Connor's retirement.

[uwsman2]

Things move fast in Spain. The A.P. reports this morning that the King has signed the law, it has been published in the official register, and it will go into effect in time for folks to start getting married this Sunday, July 3. So Spain is definitely No. 3, since Canada still has a few steps to complete.

Also, Spain is the most sweeping, since the legislation merely adds a line to the existing marriage law to make clear that the sex of the participants is not legally significant. Canada, by contrast, is weighted down with amendments to try to insulate religious bodies from having to perform marriages to which they object.

[Yeswell]

The Canadian government added all those amendments in order to placate religious groups. The amendments are pointless, of course, as in Canada at least religious organisations can't be forced to perform any marriages they don't want to perform. So the amendments mean nothing, and I'm not sure they made much of a difference but you know how touchy those religious people are. According to the full faith and credit agreement, by the way, the American government is forced to recognise all legal Canadian marriages. I hope one of the thousands of American couples married here will try this out.