Alright, NOW I'm embarrassed! You have to be embarrassed when an African country, any African country, shows itself to be better on human rights issues than our own country. After all, aren't we supposed to be exporting democracy and human rights to the rest of the world?
The South African Parliament today passed legislation that would approve gay marriages in that country, and the vote wasn't even close. They approved the bill by a margin of 230 to 41. The bill must still pass in the National Council of Provinces and be signed by President Thabo Mbeki, but that is thought to be a foregone conclusion.
I still remember when South Africa was an outlaw nation that denied equal rights to over 90% of its citizens. But once they started down the road toward equal rights, they have made great strides. Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said, "When we attained our democracy, we sought to distinguish ourselves from an unjust painful past, by declaring that never again shall it be that any South African will be discriminated against on the basis of color, creed, culture and sex."
The South Africans are trying to live up to that vision, while the U.S. is trying to use religion to deny our own Constitution. Why is it so hard for some Americans to see that gays are being discriminated against? Even the South Africans, with their young democracy, can see this.
I am left to wonder -- just what part of "equal rights" do the fundamentalists not understand?
I knew that we'd move ahead of South Africa if we just kept our focus as narrow as possible on this all important goal of eliminating such a dire threat to the institution of marriage.
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