The Affect of Political Parties on Gay Rights

As the democratic leader of the free world, the United States should shoulder much of the blame for the unequal treatment that gays receive within society. However, other western cultures are still at fault for failing to adopt to a changing world in which more and more minority groups are getting equal rights in society. In June of 2005, Spain legalized gay marriages, making it only the third country in the world to legalize homosexual marriages. Even in Spain the legalization of such a historic world landmark did not come without controversy. The Roman Catholic clergy adamantly fought to prevent the new gay marriage law from passing. When the votes were counted in Spain's Parliament which makes up more than 350 people, the gay marriage bill only passed by forty votes. In December of 2005 South Africa's highest court supported a law for gay marriage and equal rights for civil unions. The following year in 2006 the legislature of South Africa passed a gay marriage bill into law. The law was similar to that of other countries like the Netherlands and Belgium that had already passed gay marriage laws. However, the most important thing about the new law in South Africa was that it specifically stated that gay marriages were to be viewed and treated under the law the same as heterosexual marriages. Gays in civil unions and marriages would no longer be discriminated against because they did not have a heterosexual partner. Canada is also on the verge of passing a gay marriage bill and slowly more countries are beginning to change their views on gay civil unions and marriages. Still, the fact that there are only a few countries around the world which have supported gay rights reflects the general attitude of western society toward the gay community.