Spain approves draft of gay marriage law

While the U.S. government plays politics and attempts to take a step backwards on human rights, Spain attempts to move forward. Canada is also moving forward on this issue. It irks the hell out of me that Republicans in the States are trying to pass an amendment to the constitution on the gay marriage issue. On the one hand, Republicans are supposed to be the champions of states rights, but when arguing for this amendment, they argue that they cannot leave such a grave threat up to the states and their activist judges to decide on it. Pure hypocrisy. Also, they run afoul of the constitutional ban on preferring one religion over another. Some religions, including some sects of Christianity and Judaism, approve of and condone gay marriages. To top it off, the amendment as written and proposed in Congress is vague enough that it would make illegal any efforts by private companies to offer benefits to the partner of an employee regardless of sexual orientation. Hence, because my partner and I choose not to get married, we would be excluded from sharing in each other's employee benefits.