Should Marriage for Same Sex Couples be Legal?

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Twenty-eight nations have helped same-sex couples keep their commitments, and the sky hasn’t fallen.  For the United States to lag behind so many other nations contradicts its own history and principles.  After all, the United States fought against Britain’s tyrannical power and then founded itself on a constitution promising equality and liberty to keep government tyranny in check.  When those promises are kept, we all have equal opportunity to contribute as best we can to our families, communities, and country.  With access to marriage in particular, couples can better keep their own promises to take care of and be responsible for each other.   

Same-sex couples can marry under legislation passed in Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, and The Netherlands.  Such couples have many of the protections of marriage in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.  And they have at least some protections in Andorra, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Israel, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia, and Switzerland.  That’s 28 nations ahead of the United States in keeping promises and helping couples keep their own promises. 

After helping to end the exclusion from marriage in Spain, Prime Minister Zapatero said, "We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven ... by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality."  In the United States, the forces of freedom and equality are moving like molasses.  We need to show that the words of our constitution mean what they say, and help people keep their commitments to loved ones.