Bill C-38.

To a few people's surprise, I've been somewhat quiet on this issue for the last little while, even after the bill passed, I didn't write anything; largely because I considered that the end of the issue.

This happens to be an issue I believe in quite passionately; which, for some reason I can't really explain, seems to come as a surprise to a lot of people. Especially when they find out that a) I'm not gay (which, frankly, some people find a little too surprising), and b) I'm not married.

But, for the moment, let's consider the fact that very shortly same-sex marriage will be the law of the land in Canada.

For the bulk of Canadians, this will have absolutely no effect; in eight provinces and one territory, it's already legal. Of the remaining provinces, PEI was planning on making it legal anyway, and Nunavut already recognizes same-sex marriages performed outside its own borders; even if they're not performed there.

So, the only stronghold against same-sex marriage in Canada is the good ol' redneck province of Alberta. Our premier has promised to fight Bill C-38 tooth and nail to keep this "nonsensical bill" (his words, for the record) from becoming law in Alberta. Stephen Harper, who was elected overwhelmingly in a riding in Calgary, has sworn to make this an election issue in december; which means that he's basically planning on getting elected at least in part based upon the promise to be the first Prime Minister in history to use the Notwithstanding clause.

And in the middle of this huge maelstrom; which really shouldn't be an issue at all; we have my MP, Jim Prentice, a high-ranking member of the Conservative party who voted in favor of Bill C-38.

My interest in this bill is rather deeply personal, but not for the reasons one would expect.

It was with grave disappointment that I watched the US Federal election last November. While it was deeply saddening to see 51% of voters decide that a bible-thumping redneck moron was fit to run the country for another four years; much more disappointing was the fact that eleven states voted overwhelmingly to ban same-sex marriage within their respective borders.

I have yet to hear someone give a secular reason why same-sex couples should be denied the right to marry. The closest anyone has ever come is that same-sex couples cannot have kids. What they fail to observe is that we do not force married couples to have a fertility test; we do not deny marriage certificates to sterile couples; and we do not declare any marriages which fail to produce offspring to be invalid. In short, from a legal perspective, getting married in no way requires the couple to bear children.

In other words, in a country which has written into its constitution the Separation of Church and State; a country which is supposed to have a secular government; a laws for which nobody has yet provided a secular basis were passed in eleven different states.

That is rather disappointing. More disappointing is the fact that in a country which announces itself to be the "land of the free" passed laws in eleven different states, whose only purpose was to limit the freedoms of a specific minority.

Canada didn't do that. Canada made same-sex marriage seem natural and healthy and logical. Granted, immediately after the bill passed, you had people in the streets screaming that the sky was going to fall and that civilization as we knew it was about to crumble; all because a single freedom had been extended to a small minority. A freedom which will affect nobody except for that minority in any measurable way. Ignoring, for the moment, that the sky has not yet fallen, the fact of the matter is that the extending on freedom to one's fellow man isn't something to be lamented. This is something to be celebrated.

While the US has been trying for years to get a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, Canada legalized it in the political equivalent of overnight. While the US bowed down to pressure from the Religious Right Wing; Canada found a way to allow religious freedom and marital equality to exist side-by-side.

The US could learn a lesson or two from Canada.

I'm an American, and I approve this message.