Good Week for Gay Marriage

Opponents of same-sex marriage had a bad week here in Maryland, in the U.S., and even internationally. First, in Maryland, the state's most influential paper lent its support to the effort to convince the Court of Appeals to find that Maryland Constitution requires the recognition of same-sex marriage rights. The Sun argued that it is utterly legitimate for the Court to protect the rights of same-sex partners and that the arguments of marriage opponents before the Court were quite unconvincing.

Meanwhile, the idea that homosexuality is inherently antithetical to organized religion took a beating as Conservative Judaism agreed to allow gays and lesbians to be ordained as rabbis and for Conservative Congregations to hold ceremonies honoring same-sex unions. You know opponents of same-sex marriage are on the ropes when even organizations with"conservative" in the title are endorsing same-sex marriage.

Meanwhile, Canada's Conservative government failed in its effort to repeal that country's recognition of marriage as including same-sex unions by 175-125. Both the Conservative and Liberal parties, the two largest parties in the Canadian House of Commons, allowed a free vote on the issue. The Bloc Quebecois and the New Democrats whipped their members to vote against the motion. Fifteen Conservative MPs defected from the government to oppose the motion.

Onward and upward.