Spain will legalize same-sex marriages and grant equal rights to gay couples under incoming Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government, Reuters is reporting. The move is significant because Spain is one of Europe's most Catholic countries and the Vatican, as we all know, condemns same-sex unions with a vehemence.
Yes, the left does have its uses. But otherwise, I'm viscerally appalled and sickened by the new Spanish government. By shamefully declaring that his country would withdraw its coalition troops from Iraq in the wake of the terrorists pre-election attack in Madrid, Prime Minister-elect Zapatero sent a clear message of capitulation to the most fascistic enemies of freedom. He has greatly escalated the odds of more attacks, probably tied to swaying elections toward pro-withdrawal candidates, 'cause it worked so well in Spain. And he has heightened the resolve of the blood-thirsty murderers within Iraq. I won't even get into the harm that his anti-market, anti-trade policies will cause the global economy.
Time and again, the liberal-left parties that are horrific on economics and security are the ones most likely to support gay legal equality. And that is the challenge we face.
Fortunately, there are some exceptions -- in Great Britain, the leader of the Conservative Party, who once supported anti-gay legislation, has now endorsed Tony Blair's Civil Partnership act, which grants marriage-like rights to same-sex couples. In fact, the Tories recently held a "summit" to discuss reaching out to young gay voters.
But in America, those of us who support legal equality for all citizens, economic freedom, and the will to defend those freedoms, often have to make extremely difficult election choices -- as explored by the New York Times Magazine last week, when it reported that "The prospect of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage is leading Log Cabin Republicans to question whether they can support George Bush in November."
Marriage Evolved, and Evolving.
Time and again, opponents of same-sex marriage claim that the
institution's strength has been its immutability over millennial.
But as two anthropologists
write in the Washington Post, "The human record tells us
otherwise." For instance:
the cult of romantic love in a companionate marriage is a recent innovation in the history of marriage. -- Marriage, in other words, is not only diverse across cultures but also dynamic and changing in America's own history".. This said, it is not the case that "anything goes." Every society favors forms of union that conform to its ethical standards and its needs.
And in America, our ethical standards, at their best, emphasize
liberty and justice, not perpetuating discrimination for
tradition's sake.