Two countries in the world now offer gays and lesbians equal rights when it comes to marital union: Canada and Spain. Tuesday, Canadian lawmakers approved a measure that legalized same-sex marriages throughout the country. Today, Spain’s parliament followed suit.

Unlike similar measures in the Netherlands and Belgium, where gay marriage has become legal but same-sex couples possess a second-class status without the full range of rights that their straight counterparts enjoy, the legislation in Canada and Spain redefines the institution of marriage so that it applies to all couples, regardless of gender. In fact, as The New York Times noted, the Spanish measure adds just one sentence to the existing marriage law: “Marriage will have the same requirements and results when the two people entering into the contract are of the same sex or of different sexes.”

(Yes, one sentence is all it took. And now Canada and Spain don’t have to deal with all the added bureaucratic paper-shuffling and color-coding that this “civil union”/“marriage but not real marriage”/etc. tomfoolery entails.)

The two gay marriage proposals beat back determined opposition in both countries. In Canada, Conservatives joined with defiant Liberals in decrying the legislation; a junior cabinet member of the ruling Liberal Party resigned in protest. Earlier this month, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched through downtown Madrid to voice their opposition to gay marriage. The mayor of Valladolid pledged not to carry out the law, and Catholic leaders urged other government officials to become conscientious objectors.

Using language that Senator Richard Durbin would surely not approve of, the Archbishop of Barcelona likened those officials who disagree with the law but nonetheless carry it out to the Nazis at Auschwitz, who “believed that they had to obey the laws of the Nazi government before their own conscience.”

You know, I seem to remember that the Nazis had some pretty strong views on gays and lesbians, too — do pink triangles ring a bell?

Victor Tan Chen Victor Tan Chen is In The Fray's editor in chief and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy. Site: victortanchen.com | Facebook | Twitter: @victortanchen