Not quite a Summer of Love...

In the Summer of 2005, I wrote a series of posts (Summer of Love, Summer of Love Continues, and Summer of Love Rolls on) observing that Canada and Spain had recognized gay marriage, and that in the U.S., the California legislature became the first to approve of gay marriage--although the CA bill was later vetoed by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (We await the ruling of the CA Supreme Court, which on a unanimous vote in December 2006 agreed to hear challenges to the state's current same-sex marriage ban, but has yet to set a hearing date. It is expected sometime this Fall.)

Well, there has been a bit of a lull, but things may be picking up again. At the end of last year (November 2006) the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere (Israel does not perform them). And in December 2006, the South African Supreme Court made South Africa the fifth nation to perform full same-sex marriages. Then, in early 2007, French Presidential Candidate Ségolène Royal promised to legalize gay marriage in France (she made it to the May 6 runoff but is not the favored candidate to win at this point).

There is also some good news at home. On April 12, 2007, the Connecticut State Senate Judiciary Committee approved a gay marriage bill 27-15, although Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell has said she will veto it (CT already has civil unions, along with VT). On April 26, New Hampshire's state legislature passed a bill to become the third U.S. state with Civil Unions, and Democratic Governor Jon Lynch has said he will sign it. And today, on April 27, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has introduced a bill in the NY State legislature to recognize gay marriage. Spitzer is the first Governor in the U.S. to propose same sex marriage, even though advocates say it has little chance of getting past the NY state legislature.

The move toward recognition of gay marriage is picking up again slowly. It does not quite look like another 2005 Summer of Love is on the horizon, but the future looks a bit brighter now.