Gay Marriage in Canada, Spain

The Canadian House of Commons approved legislation on Tuesday night to legalize gay marriage in Canada (not law yet, though). Just today, Spain passed into law gay marriage. Here in America, at least if you listen to a lot of talk radio, we are opposed to gay marriage. In fact, we're so smart we want to pass an amendment to our founding document to prohibit gay marriage. Oh, that's a good idea! I'd feel so happy if my important rights like free speech and privacy was equated with the right to live in a society devoid of gay marriage. Clearly those rights are parallel.

I suspect that the future will make the United States look foolish on this issue, while countries like Canada and Spain will look visionary. It's no wonder that conservatives are bemoaning our Supreme Court's reliance on International Law. They can see exactly where it's going and they don't like it.

The psychological factor at play is these conservatives who support an anti-gay marriage amendment, and complain about cites to international law, fear any authority but their own. Though they purport to be God-fearing, their refusal to acknowledge the persuasive value of the ethics of other communities betrays their true reluctance to submit to authority. It's a perfectly natural and unavoidable phenomenon, and so I can't hold a grudge against them. In fact, they fascinate me.