Thanks to 2 significant Supreme Court decisions, the United States has made great strides toward the equality that comes from allowing people of the same gender to marry. This is the more freedom the United States has ever had on this issue.
But the United States is still not on the level of what Canada has had … since 2005.
Canada did became the first non-European country to allow for same-sex marriage. Unlike the conflict with different states, once you were married in Canada, your marriage was recognized nationwide. Even with the advancement in the United States, if you are married in New York, your marriage is recognized under federal statutes, but maybe not in Alabama.
Even when Canada did struggle on a provincial level, the period was rather brief and since most of the provinces had already approved of same-gender marriage, the issue wasn't as severe. And of course, at no time did voters in Canada vote to take away people's rights.
The Canadian connection with Edie Windsor, who brought the DOMA case before the Supreme Court, was that she married her partner, Thea Spyer, in Toronto in 2007.
The Civil Marriage Act of July 20, 2005 paved the way for same-gender marriage in Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. The other provinces had already allowed for same-gender marriage, starting with Ontario on June 10, 2003. The order of acceptance after Ontario went British Columbia (2003); Quebec, Yukon, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador (2004); and New Brunswick (2005).
Ontario has an openly gay and married premier (governor) in Kathleen Wynne. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi served as the grand marshal of the city's 2011 gay pride parade. And Calgary is the largest city in the most conservative province, Alberta.
If you did get married in Canada, and your marriage didn't work out, the Canadian Senate just passed Bill C-32 that allows non-Canadian citizens who got married in Canada to get a divorce. The bill had been introduced to Parliament more than a year ago.
This will be an issue in the United States soon enough.
You hear often from Americans that the United States is about freedom and the land of the free. But we see once again that in many ways, Canada has a better sense of freedom. Canada was definitely ahead of the curve on same-gender marriage. The United States is further along the path, but still not there where Canada is.
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