I can't believe they beat us!!!

Like many Canadians, I was quite proud that Canada was on its way to becoming the third country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriages... and then poof! we got bumped down to fourth (wow, progress can be fast sometimes... especially after you wait for it for a few decades!!!).

The government of Spain has legalized same-sex marriage, and because of a matter of process, they will be number three, and we'll just have to hope no other countries jump up and push Canada further down than fourth! (...just kidding other countries, please bring full equality to ALL your citizens just as fast as you can.... don't worry about "leap-frogging" us... we'll get over it!)

The following is from AP regarding the Spain vote (this will explain why we've gone from third to fourth):

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Parliament legalized gay marriage Thursday, defying conservatives and clergy who opposed making traditionally Roman Catholic Spain the third country in the world to officially recognize same-sex unions. Gay rights activists cheered lawmakers and blew them kisses...

The bill is now law. The Senate, where conservatives hold the largest number of seats, rejected the bill last week, but the Senate is an advisory body and final say on legislation rested with the Congress of Deputies.

Gay couples will be allowed to marry as soon as the law is published in the official government registry, the Boletin Oficial del Estado. This could come as early as Friday or within two weeks at the latest, the parliament's press office said.

Now, I suppose that that "two weeks" comment at the end means that if Canada's Senate gets a move on, we can still make top three. I wonder if anyone in the Senate will push for that, if Spain doesn't get this done tomorrow. It would be funny, after all this time, to watch the Senate actually RACE to get the legislation through, in order to beat Spain!

Well, either way, I guess Top 5 is pretty good!

I can't wait for John Stewart to get moved in to his new studio, so I can hear him talk about this. I was pretty sure he'd bring it up when it was just us (I'm sure Samantha keeps him in the loop on things Canadian that are worthy of attention), but now that Spain has joined the stampede, I imagine he'll have some funny things to say about how "freedom and democracy are on the march..." in a lot of countries the U.S. hasn't even invaded!

:-)

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