Spain, and New York.

[randomness]

Michael Potemra, in a post on The Corner blog in the National Review Online:

Stonewall Inn, Greenwich Village, NYC — Forty-two years ago next Tuesday, a police raid against this gay bar started a series of riots that sparked the birth of the modern gay-rights movement. Tonight marks, for New York, the end of the long road that began at this unassuming little bar.

...

I see smiles on young people — and also, on some quiet senior citizens who are actually old enough to remember Stonewall 1969.

And speaking of 1969, here’s a little bit of perspective. In 1969, Spain was a conservative religious republic, led by the legendary Generalissimo Francisco Franco; and New York City was already Babylon-on-the-Hudson, well on its way to being the crime-sex-drugs-porn-and-atonal-music capital of the world. If I had said to you then, “Forty years from now, one of these places will allow homosexuals to marry each other with the blessing of the state” . . . well, let’s just say you would have made a lot of money if you had bet on Spain.

Spain did it in 2005, six years ahead of the Empire State; and now we have it here in ol’ Babylon. I call it Babylon affectionately; let no one question, on this night, my patriotism as a citizen of the state of Alexander Hamilton, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Marx Brothers.

Comments

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

True... But serious religiousness has gone out of fashion in the solidly Catholic southern Europe a lot faster than it has in the US. The best theory I've heard is that in Europe, there are established churches, funded by the government, and people think of religion as something the government does. That is, something they don't have to spend effort on. But in the US, churches have to pay close attention to maintaining their viability in the adherent market.

But I suspect that in 1969, nobody would have even considered that question. I only heard of gay marriage some time in the late '80s. Who invented the idea, and what has been its progress?

[muffyjo]

I know that as a kid (in the late 60's and early 70s) that the men I knew called each other wife and husband. Especially when referring to each other in any social forum, like work. Even when they were not allowed to be totally "out of the closet". So I would sincerely doubt anyone invented the idea. I would bet that it's a concept of inclusions, that people got tired of "pretending" to the outside world and wanted actual recognition for their partnerships.

As to the other half of that, the insurance companies did, to some extent, and the medical field. As they got more and more strict about who could and could not have access to patients, they caused more and more waves among a loving community who didn't have legal access to their loved ones.

Those are my guesses.

[jab2.livejournal.com]

Not to be a downer, but Spain has just elected a conservative slate that vows to end gay marriage. It is relatively likely that it will happen.

The local version of the national party has already muted Pride Week - literally, they are caving after 20 years to neighbor complaints about late night noise from the concerts during the week that welcomes 1/2 or 3/4 of a MILLION people, and are requiring that the concerts in the gayborhood be transmitted only through earphones.

Any civil right can be taken away after the next election cycle. Especially if it's for them der gays....

[muffyjo]

This was nicely put. I especially like his last sentence.