Thoughts on Gay Marriage

[Franzl]

'Cuz why not?

Anyway, I support Gay Marriage 100%, and it should be legalized statewide, I'm surprised it's taken the US this long to finally start to support it.

This is one of the issues where the US is generally better than average among Western democracies. Credit where credit is due.

[Franzl]

A lot of Americans seem to be under the apprehension Europe is extremely liberal. Unfortunately they have confused "well-dressed" with "liberal".

That said, I think (Western) Europe supports gay marriage to a greater degree than the US, but the issue may be dormant due to political inertia (Greece, Italy etc.) or coalition deals (Germany).

I think this is about right.

You'll find a higher level of support for gay marriage in most of Western Europe than in the U.S., although the de facto legal situation is actually better in the States currently.

[Franzl]

'Cuz why not?

Anyway, I support Gay Marriage 100%, and it should be legalized statewide, I'm surprised it's taken the US this long to finally start to support it.

This is one of the issues where the US is generally better than average among Western democracies. Credit where credit is due.

Contrary to popular belief, Americans by and large are more socially permissive than Europeans.

This I disagree with. There are some very progressive parts of American society, perhaps more so than in Europe, but them again, there's also much stronger opposition, where in Europe it's mostly people either just not caring or thinking it's a legitimate political issue. America is more polarized.

But again, the legal situation (regarding gay rights) is better than average in the States.