As if Uruguay and France weren’t enough, New Zealand passed same-sex marriage legislation – the first in the Asia-Pacific.

Following the vote, the public gallery and even the members of parliament broke into song, singing the traditional Maori love song “Pokarekare Ana“. See below:

Some great points from this NZ MP – absolutely brilliant, love this:

This week, along with Uruguay, France’s senate voted to legalize same-sex marriage and to allow same-sex couples to adopt.  Not without some controversy.

I didn’t specifically want to make this blog political, after all it is supposed to be about celebration, but I can’t ignore what is happening in the rest of the world.

While in Canada we had it relatively easy with support for same-sex marriage, other places in the world are still struggling.  Despite France voting for gay marriage, there is still a lot of protesting and needless violence going on around the world.

• French Senate Passes Gay Marriage Bill – France’s justice minister, one of the bill’s loudest supporters, said the reform recognizes that many children are already living with same-sex parents and deserve the same protections afforded children of opposite-sex parents.  “These are children that scrape their knees, eat too much candy, don’t like broccoli, drive you crazy… we protect them,” Christine Taubira told senators following the vote.  The justice minister said the reform will “move our institutions towards ever more freedom, equality and personal respect.”
• French marriage equality bill met with threats of violence
• France Gay Marriage Debate Prompts Homophobic Assaults – Wilfred de Bruijn’s face is bloated, seeped in blood, his bruised right eye shut tight, his tooth broken — the victim of a brutal attack in Paris while he was “walking arm in arm” with his boyfriend.
• Gay Marriage Law Passes Crucial Vote In France – For the past six months, hundreds of thousands have participated in demonstrations in opposition of marriage equality. Most of the opposition is backed by conservative religious institutions, which claim the legislation will create psychological and social problems for children.

Planning a wedding, going through a kitchen renovation, renovating our laundry room…

On the wedding front, our invites have arrived and we’ll be mailing them out in May.  For those in farther places, maybe earlier.

But in other news, today, el Senado voted 23 to 8 in favour of marriage equality. It still has one more step before it comes law, and it sounds like it is expected to pass.

Uruguay will be the second country in South America to support gay marriage.  Argentina was first.

I spent 7 to 8 weeks in Montevideo last year and I’m very pleased to see how progressive Uruguay has been, in South America and Latin America, on gay and trans rights.  Support for adoption, recognizing change in gender for trans-folk, and supporting civil unions (which is different from marriage).

Matrimonio gay por amplia mayoría