A Long, Dark Era is Over (for some)

The following editorial Canada's Enlighetened Stand on Gay Marriage is from The Globe and Mail (Canada's national newspaper).

The [Canadian] Senate rang with cheers on Wednesday night when the chamber gave final legislative approval to a bill making same-sex marriage legal right across the country. The eruption was very much in order. By becoming just the fourth nation in the world to allow homosexuals to wed, this country has burnished its image as a decent, tolerant nation.

The prejudice against gays and lesbians is one of the oldest there is. For millennia, they have been shunned as deviants, freaks and outcasts. The same-sex-marriage bill signals that, officially at least, that long, dark era of ostracism is over. Homosexuals are at last considered full and equal members of the human family.

And family is what this law is all about. Every person, gay or straight, at some time feels the need for lasting love and attachment. Marriage is the ideal place to find it. Though many people find happiness outside the institution, only marriage provides the safe, secure and recognized foundation for lasting union. When they wed, people say to each other: I will be there for you, come what may, forever. At the same time, family, friends and society at large say: We are with you. By making a public, legal commitment of their devotion, couples gain the chance to deepen their connection and form a partnership that lasts. By recognizing that commitment, society helps make it last. These are the ties that bind.

To deny homosexuals the blessing of marriage was not only cruel but stupid. Cruel, because it marked them as lesser beings, unlikely to form lasting bonds of affection and unworthy of society's approbation. Gays and lesbians grew up knowing that, however deep their love for another, they would never be married. Stupid, because it reinforced the very traits that many in straight society found disturbing: promiscuity, flamboyance, irresponsibility. As long as society treated them as queer, many homosexuals threw the taunt back by embracing the party lifestyle, forming a rich underworld where they could feel accepted and safe. Now, at last, they can feel that way in the light of day.

Many will choose to stay in the underworld and never marry. That is their right. But by opening the door to its central institution, society is signalling that there is a secure place for them in the wider world. That is good for homosexual society, which can grow beyond its stage of adolescent rebellion. It is also good for society at large, which has a strong interest in lasting unions and responsible sexual conduct.

Of course, prejudice against gays and lesbians lives on. The approval of same-sex marriage will not banish an age-old hatred overnight. Married or otherwise, homosexuals will continue to struggle for understanding and acceptance. But welcoming them into the compact of marriage is the surest signal a society can send that it no longer considers them beyond the pale. They are family now. Canada is one of the first places in the world to say that. Canadians should feel proud.