Thread:Comments:California's same-sex marriage ban ruled unconstitutional; appeal expected/The US finally begins to crawl out of the third world

Congratulations, America, on finally doing what the rest of the Western World did years ago! The land of the not-so-free and the home of the bravely ignorant may still have a long way to go, but at least California is no longer in the same boat as most of Africa and the Middle East (see map, right). Maybe one day the United States will finally embrace is supposedly secular founding principles, stop listening to the religious fanatics, and let people get on with their own lives without interference from the near-fascist Big Brother state. Maybe one day the United States—a nation that supposedly values liberty—will stop persecuting people for factors beyond their own control. Maybe one day gay people will have the same rights as black people and Jews, and people will stop pretending that persecuting one group of people is different from persecuting another.