[« Shelby Foote, Author and Historian] [Well, this is why we're considered a bit weird.... »]
06/29/2005: We're going to get some empirical evidence soon....
concerning the Religious Right's belief that allowing same sex marriages is the first step to social collapse.
A same sex marriage bill, establishing the right of same sex couples to contract a civil marriage, passed the Canadian House of Commons on a 158-133 vote yesterday. According to the CBC story cited, this makes Canada "only the third country in the world, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to officially recognize same-sex marriage."
So keep an eye on events over the Northern Border. If Canada doesn't collapse into social anarchy, can we conclude that perhaps the religious bigots are full of shit? Because, face it, there's no evidence whatsoever that extending the benefits of marriage under civil law to same sex couples will in any way undermine society in general or the institution of marriage in particular. The opposition to same sex marriages is religiously based, pure and simple.
And I'm pleased to see that our neighbors to the north have a Chief Executive that Gets It, unlike the poor excuse for a leader that we have below the 49th parallell:
The "vote is about the Charter of Rights," said [Canadian Prime Minister Paul] Martin. "We're a nation of minorities and in a nation of minorities you don't cherry-pick rights."Unlike the United States, which is on the fast track to become a dictatorship of the (carefully cherry-picked) majority.
Len on 06.29.05 @ 07:41 AM CST
