I’m not sure if this is new. Maybe The Seattle Times has already endorsed gay marriage. But either way the paper’s editorial from yesterday seems significant. Noting Canada’s recent legalization of gay marriage, The Seattle Times looks ahead to the coming gay marriage battle in this state says:

Americans need to get past the politics and cultural knee-jerk reactions to gay marriage and join our northern neighbors in allowing same-sex couples to legally marry.

Amen. Full editorial below….

Editorial: Following Canada

CANADA'S legalization of gay marriage follows the inevitable shift among democracies to grant civil rights to all citizens.

Granting equal rights to all of the nation's citizens should not be a difficult decision. Yet it is. Here in Washington, a gay-rights bill narrowly failed in the last session of the Legislature.

The topic has become a political tool used to rally and denounce. What should not be lost in the discordance is that a whole segment of our population faces discrimination daily.

Why should a person be denied something as simple as hospital visitation of a sick partner because they care for someone of the same sex? They should not.

The old argument of sexual attraction being a choice is becoming harder to defend. More and more studies show that homosexuality is based not on choice but on hormones and genetics.

No church is forced to perform a marriage between same-sex couples under Canada's new law. Yet, predictably, the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian groups are upset by Canada's decision, which comes weeks after Spain, another predominately Catholic nation, legalized gay marriage. The Netherlands and Belgium also allow gay marriage.

The Catholic Church, Christians and other religions should embrace the evolving nature of marriage. Churches should find a way to strengthen marriage by accepting all who wish to align their religious beliefs with their hearts.

The United States has slowly started on the path toward legal gay marriage. Massachusetts allows it. Connecticut and Vermont have civil unions.

Gay marriage continues its contentious history in Washington following the gay-rights bill's narrow defeat in the Legislature. That does not mean the issue should be abandoned. The Legislature should revisit the issue next session.

Americans need to get past the politics and cultural knee-jerk reactions to gay marriage and join our northern neighbors in allowing same-sex couples to legally marry.